New York City, Day 4
I let Jon have the camera for a change, so I don’t have all the groovy photos I normally would.
After breakfast at the Bus Stop Café, I went to Brooklyn for the first time. I really enjoyed it. It was a little more spacious and less frantic than Manhattan. Lots of mommies taking little kids to the park.
I walked around Prospect Park, then around the avenues of Park slope. I didn’t realize that before being a borough of NYC, Brooklyn was a city unto itself. I stumbled upon a great intersection with a classical stone arch with statues and sculptures across from the glorious Brooklyn library. Around the corner was the Brooklyn Museum of Art, second in size only to the Metropolitan Museum. It was looking great, having recently undergone renovation. There was this totally awesome fountain that I sat and watched for like 20 minutes. It had two rows of 18 spouts that shot water up in the air at different heights and durations. I couldn’t believe how many different patterns and images they could get out of such a simple setup. It was very thrilling, plus you could stand by the splashing down water and get wet if you were in the mood.
I met up with my friend Jimmy Maas, who used to improv with me in Austin. It was such a beautiful day that we went to the botanical gardens instead of the museum. Jimmy’s wife Christine was going to meet up with us soon, so we went to the gardens and sat down in the Japanese Zen garden for some relaxing conversation. But it’s a dog eat dog world in a Zen garden in Brooklyn. A little girl was feeding bread to the koi fish and there must have been a hundred fish a square meter with mouths open clamoring over each other for bread crumbs. Then a beautiful bird, a crane I think, swooped down and locked its jaws on one of the fish. The bird just held the squirming fish in its beak while we were there, unsure of how to eat such a large fish.
Christine got delayed, so Jimmy and I walked around the pretty gardens, (though no comparison to the Montreal Gardens) and talked about life and comedy.
Later Christine picked us up in her car and I got a driving tour of Brooklyn. They took me to one of their favorite neighborhood restaurants. They were talking about how much they like living in Brooklyn and how they know their neighbors and all the shopkeepers and restaurant owners in their area. We had a nice Cuban/French meal and then walked down the promenade with beautiful views of downtown Manhattan.
Then I took the subway back to Times Square to go see Caroline, or Change with Jon, Lauren, and Barbara. We had great half price seats and I was so excited to be there. The crowd was really mixed, tourists, Jews, blacks, young, old. The show was wonderful. Amazing voices singing. A well written script. And a stellar performance by the lead, Tonya Pickens. In my experience if you hear about one person in a role that is just exceptional, it’s usually true. Even with a great cast, they just rise above and transcend any expectation you have. I don’t know how they do it 7 times a week. She has an aria that they showed during the Tony awards that was incredibly gripping on TV and it’s just as thrilling in person. I also was particularly close to the story because I think it follows a lot of elements of Merlin family history. A Jewish family in the South with a black maid. Socialism. I can’t wait for my dad to see it. I know he’ll love it like he loves Angels in America.
After the show we went to the White Horse Tavern for drinks to discuss the play and parenting styles: reasoning vs. whooping vs.?
After breakfast at the Bus Stop Café, I went to Brooklyn for the first time. I really enjoyed it. It was a little more spacious and less frantic than Manhattan. Lots of mommies taking little kids to the park.
I walked around Prospect Park, then around the avenues of Park slope. I didn’t realize that before being a borough of NYC, Brooklyn was a city unto itself. I stumbled upon a great intersection with a classical stone arch with statues and sculptures across from the glorious Brooklyn library. Around the corner was the Brooklyn Museum of Art, second in size only to the Metropolitan Museum. It was looking great, having recently undergone renovation. There was this totally awesome fountain that I sat and watched for like 20 minutes. It had two rows of 18 spouts that shot water up in the air at different heights and durations. I couldn’t believe how many different patterns and images they could get out of such a simple setup. It was very thrilling, plus you could stand by the splashing down water and get wet if you were in the mood.
I met up with my friend Jimmy Maas, who used to improv with me in Austin. It was such a beautiful day that we went to the botanical gardens instead of the museum. Jimmy’s wife Christine was going to meet up with us soon, so we went to the gardens and sat down in the Japanese Zen garden for some relaxing conversation. But it’s a dog eat dog world in a Zen garden in Brooklyn. A little girl was feeding bread to the koi fish and there must have been a hundred fish a square meter with mouths open clamoring over each other for bread crumbs. Then a beautiful bird, a crane I think, swooped down and locked its jaws on one of the fish. The bird just held the squirming fish in its beak while we were there, unsure of how to eat such a large fish.
Christine got delayed, so Jimmy and I walked around the pretty gardens, (though no comparison to the Montreal Gardens) and talked about life and comedy.
Later Christine picked us up in her car and I got a driving tour of Brooklyn. They took me to one of their favorite neighborhood restaurants. They were talking about how much they like living in Brooklyn and how they know their neighbors and all the shopkeepers and restaurant owners in their area. We had a nice Cuban/French meal and then walked down the promenade with beautiful views of downtown Manhattan.
Then I took the subway back to Times Square to go see Caroline, or Change with Jon, Lauren, and Barbara. We had great half price seats and I was so excited to be there. The crowd was really mixed, tourists, Jews, blacks, young, old. The show was wonderful. Amazing voices singing. A well written script. And a stellar performance by the lead, Tonya Pickens. In my experience if you hear about one person in a role that is just exceptional, it’s usually true. Even with a great cast, they just rise above and transcend any expectation you have. I don’t know how they do it 7 times a week. She has an aria that they showed during the Tony awards that was incredibly gripping on TV and it’s just as thrilling in person. I also was particularly close to the story because I think it follows a lot of elements of Merlin family history. A Jewish family in the South with a black maid. Socialism. I can’t wait for my dad to see it. I know he’ll love it like he loves Angels in America.
After the show we went to the White Horse Tavern for drinks to discuss the play and parenting styles: reasoning vs. whooping vs.?
posted by Jonathan Bownds at
7:50 AM
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