New Yawk City, baby! (Part 1)

Ahhhh. This city is full on! I've gone a bit soft from the comfort and relaxed pace of Los Angeles methinks! ;-)

I spent a couple of hours this morning planning my time in NYC after Brittany left for UrbanWorld. She was late as we didn't sleep till 3am because of the opening festival party (with Biz Markie!). I was late into NYC and to sleep because I had a 3-hour delayed flight spent mostly sitting on the runway in both Chicago and NYC! Yuck! I know it's not Delta's fault, but it'll be the last time I go with them. Yesterday they kept me on the phone for over 1 hour to make a simple itinerary change!? Oh, and the mofos charged me $50 for the pleasure!

New York window-shopping
A quick Google search and I had my plan for the day. Lafayette and LES (Lower Eastside) to check out the latest boutiques and pop in of the established ones. Things change. What's 'appened to Prohit? Stackhouse? Over the course of this long weekend I wandered around picking off my list of stores and spotting new ones.

Urbanworld VIBE
I attended a couple of films, but the one I really wanted to see was Mr. Untouchable about Nicky Barnes, the infamous heroin dealer from Harlem and what he did to jail his ally come foe, Guy Fisher. It was pretty good, but not as strong as Cocaine Cowboys that Magnolia Films also released. Damon Dash is one of the producers and he was in the house, but he seemed to like the glamour of the druggling and frowned upon the fact that Barnes broke the 'no snitching' honor code.

Shepard 'OBEY' Fairey
On Saturday night I met Adam at my hotel and we headed to the opening of Shepard 'OBEY' Fairey's new show downtown. I was late, but the show went on till 10pm so it was all good. The art was a commentary on the war mongering going on around the world. His work seemed even more relevant now with its propoganda style.

After a bite to eat in Chelsea Adam and I parted ways and I went to the Urbanworld closing festival party at T-NY club which was pretty hum-drum. Come to think of it, I think the last club I went to in NYC was during the New Music Seminar days in 1989...wow, old man! ;-)

Chillin'
On Sunday, Britt and I moved to Bryant Park hotel which was wonderful compared to Amsterdam Court hotel...yuck. There I managed to catch up with Linden, Elita's sister, who now lives here with her hedge fund husband in the park over brunch. Later on that day after Britt caught a siesta we hit Florent diner (yes Tina, you introduced me to this spot ;-) ) and then went uptown to a bar/cafe at 110th/Amsterdam...home to Columbia Uni folk.

Do or Die Bed-Sty
On Monday came the big move out of Manhattan to Bed-Sty, Brooklyn as Britt had a sub-let arranged for July. That was an enlightening adventure. The Marcy Projects, the run down homes, the people on the stoops and stores with no fresh fruit or veg.

As Britt and I walked around the neighbourhood I spotted a Chinese take-out place...we entered.
Me: "Hi, is this area ok for my friend to come at night to get food?"
Shop-owner: "You know this is Bed-Sty, right?!"
Hahahah! SHIT!

New York's energy is enviable if you can keep the pace and hold your focus. There's so much to do and see that a few days is never enough. But now it's only $350 and 5 hours away it seems more attainable.