While this blog may not reflect it, March has been incredibly busy for Shelly and I in New York. Following on our trip to Boston in Feb (see below), we returned to a huge number of social engagements the next weekend, all of which brought us back in touch with our good friends Alisha (an on-and-off New Yorker), Sam Chapa (now a wine specialist in DC), and Kelly (Shelley's former tour-mate). So all good things there. Within the same week, I had to make another run to the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers to track down some archival research on early Ellington recordings and visuals, then turn around and 2 days later head in the opposite reaction for a trip to Mosaic Records HQ in Stamford, CT.All very cool, but a very busy start to March.
This was followed by a wonderful radio shift on WKCR for the Ornette Coleman Birthday Broadcast. I so rarely get to do radio shifts these days, and I do truly miss it. I'm actually heading to San Antonio this weekend for the Swing Bums 10 Year Reunion, and will get to have a quick on-air shift at my beloved KRTU, and then attend their spring concert (Dee Dee Bridgewater, should be fun).
For the 14th, Shelley and I neglected to make any good plans for "pi" day, and so after going to catch out friend Katie in an improve throw-down (she won!) we had to settle for McDonald's apply pies. The fact that they aren't circular, and thus don't involve Pi in their Pie made it a very confusing celebration. The fact that we chose the McDonalds located inside the 34th street PennStation subway stop with a 13-member cover band playing for tips outside only added to the eccentricity of the late Sunday evening.Spring Break was spent at Columbia's Butler Library. After months of researching, and following more and more leads, it was finally time to actually WRITE my thesis. Or at least part of it. I have a peer-review panel to help me out, but they needed something to be actually written before they could read and review it. So that was a fun week. I did pop up 16 pages on one particularly verbose day, wound up with more than 50 pages, then had to chop it back. My thesis is, generally, on the development of the Petroleum industry in Baku /Russian Empire, how it differed from the early American industry, and how these differences (I'm talking hyper-technical minutae) might have contributed to the difference in labor power in the two developments. Basically, US oil used the example of US coal to identify how labor became powerful enough to strike, and then designed systems and methods to disempower it. But at Baku, this couldn't happen in the same ways, and the modifications made in the Russian case actually had the result of empowering certain types of labor organization, with the result being the 1905 Russian Revolution, with linkages to other revolutions in the Persian and Ottoman empires at the turn of the century. It was also the birth of social democratic influence, and Stalin's self-described "school" of Revolutionary action. So I wrote about that. A Lot.
Class presentation is tomorrow, and after I get through that, hopefully I'll have a better idea of exactly where (else) I'm taking this. For those desperately curious about techno-social analysis, mechanics of the oil industry, or the development of labor power, I can always use additional readers...
Spring Break ended with a bang as the Webbers (no typo) welcomed the first great-grandchild into the family. Nathan Porter Weinmeister was born to Dan & Toni (ok, Toni did most of the work) on Sunday, March 21, 2010. He was born at 6:30 pm, and weighed 7 lbs 13 oz's. How big a deal was it? Well, I just cited all that from memory, and I don't even remember what time I was born, or how much anyone else in my families weighed. We're very excited.
And it's Baby on top of Baby this spring, as Shelley's cousin Teran just had the first new young'in of Shel's generation a few weeks before. With most of the family near Houston to see the baby, Shelley is a little left out. Thank goodness for facebook.
I have no less than 2 other pregnant friends due within the next 2 months (Kate's only days away), and all this baby-action has sent rumors flying about "who's next" with certain winks in our direction. Right. If you want to hold your breath on that score, I say go ahead. The headache you will have after making yourself pass out will be well deserved.
In order to make Shelley feel a bit less left out, Pat and Kathy (in-laws) journeyed up to New York for the weekend over spring break. They just missed St. Patrick's day, and they were all-the-better for it. Shel planned out tons of activities for them, and they made a good run of the city. I was able to spare some time between thesis chapters, and thanks to their visit got to enjoy the oldest still-operating pizzeria on Manhattan, a nice walk through the village, nostalgic flipping through out wedding album (yes we have on, and yes it does feel nostalgic, even though the wedding was just 2 months ago). A real treat on Friday night was getting to go to Birdland, one of the major jazz clubs in NYC. I've been living on a grad student budget while in town, so I've yet to go to any major jazz club - No Blue Note or Village Vanguard for me. I haven't even been to Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club, Smoke, or any of the other half-dozen very good 2nd tier jazz clubs that I regularly walk past.
Anyway, that was corrected with a run to Birdland to see drummer Lewis Nash and his quintet. Shel and I actually met Mr. Nash a few times while hanging out with Phil at Lincoln Center, so that was an extra treat. The band was pretty hot too. Peter Washington on bass and a guest tenor (Bobby... something?) were solid, but the all-stars (aside from Nash) was trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and especially the pianist Rene Rosnes. I've encountered Rosnes before with the SFJazz Collective, and she impressed me at the time, but this was absolutely stellar! It was a great night, and I think Pat, Kathy and Shelley had a good time too. It certainly was fun to go out on the town with them.
With the Laabs back on a plane to Houston, and my thesis draft half-written, you would think Shelley and I could slow down just a bit. But no. We had earlier reserved tickets to MoMA for the very next (sunday) morning. We wanted to see the Tim Burton exhibit (on through April 26), and if you want to go on the weekend, you have to book several weeks ahead. The exhibit was AWESOME, by the way. I won't claim to be a life-long Tim Burton fanatic, in fact he's hit-or-miss for me (loved Beatlejuice, Batman, Nightmare, Big Fish and Charlie, hated Mars Attacks, Sleepy Hollow, Apes, can't decide about Corpse Bride and Sweeny Todd). But the exhibit, complete with lots of sketches, short animations (stain boy!), 3D extrapolations, and movie memorabilia was exceptionally well-done and interesting. I looked at MoMA's upcoming exhibits, and I've got to say, if you're looking for a time to go, that time is Before April 26. Seriously awesome. I can't say it enough.The rest of the museum was, not surprisingly, also quite impressive. I won't make any claims to being a modern art afficianado either, in fact I might be more likely to "get" modern art if it was taken off the wall and physically battered against my face, as I'm sure someone has done. Performance art. Sure. But it was cool to see what was there, to try to expand my mind a bit, and to accept (honestly) that a giant canvas painted white - that is, painted to look as it is not painted - has redeeming creative or aesthetic value. I want to be clear about this - I think it does, but I must admit it can sometimes be a hard argument. Found the Rothkos especially cool, but then, I always do.
Most recently, on Monday (3/22), while Shelley was off attending the Opera with her boss, I took the much more high-brow road and went to watch the elephants march in from Queens for their week-long residence at Madison Square Gardens. It's an old NY tradition, born more out of necessity than publicity. With only a little fanfare, the walk the elephants, ponies, and one long-horn steer through the Queens midtown tunnel, then across the entire island to Madison Sq at 8th ave & 34th street. They do this in the middle of the night, but it is still a big public event, if an obscure one. With dropping temperatures and irregular downpours, the crowd was small. The great part isn't the waiting around in the rain to see elephants, but in the chase of the whole event. These elephants aren't here to be looked at - they're Moving! So you catch them coming out of the tunnel, snap photos, then you'd better start jogging. Stop to take a few more pics, then get running again. These pachyderms won't wait for you. Multiply this patter by a few hundred young adults (not many kids or older folks around at 1 am on a Tuesday morning) and you have a truly cool experience. I even got interviewed (and misquoted) by an NYU reporter. I actually didn't sling the "miracle on 34th" line, but I did callously suggest PETA's protest of circus treatment of elephants was unfounded. Maybe I went a bit far in the interest of being glib.
Most recently, on Monday (3/22), while Shelley was off attending the Opera with her boss, I took the much more high-brow road and went to watch the elephants march in from Queens for their week-long residence at Madison Square Gardens. It's an old NY tradition, born more out of necessity than publicity. With only a little fanfare, the walk the elephants, ponies, and one long-horn steer through the Queens midtown tunnel, then across the entire island to Madison Sq at 8th ave & 34th street. They do this in the middle of the night, but it is still a big public event, if an obscure one. With dropping temperatures and irregular downpours, the crowd was small. The great part isn't the waiting around in the rain to see elephants, but in the chase of the whole event. These elephants aren't here to be looked at - they're Moving! So you catch them coming out of the tunnel, snap photos, then you'd better start jogging. Stop to take a few more pics, then get running again. These pachyderms won't wait for you. Multiply this patter by a few hundred young adults (not many kids or older folks around at 1 am on a Tuesday morning) and you have a truly cool experience. I even got interviewed (and misquoted) by an NYU reporter. I actually didn't sling the "miracle on 34th" line, but I did callously suggest PETA's protest of circus treatment of elephants was unfounded. Maybe I went a bit far in the interest of being glib.Things keep rolling in New York, and March has been especially kind regarding the weather. It is (mostly) beautiful, and no longer cold in any way. Very quick transition to spring, and we're exceedingly grateful for it. Thesis work continues, as do my part-time commitments, and the job hunt, active for almost 2 months, needs to switch into even higher gear. Like my brother's volvo 740-turbo (yes, they make Turbo-charged Volvos), I need some overdrive.
No wonderful insights or interesting theories here. I do wish I could get back to the type of writing where I muse on the ramifications of the little episodes we all encounter on a daily basis, and which seem so much more magnified here in a New York minute, but I'm just not there yet.
As a total side note, if you don't know what's going on in Kyrgyzstan right now (and seriously, who does?), do yourself the favor of looking into it. Things have changed Radically since I was there just 8 months ago, and it may be headed for big things - so big, the New York Times might even have to start reporting on them.
Two news sources are particularly good with reporters on the ground, so I advice you consult Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (http://www.rferl.org/section/Kyrgyzstan/159.html)
and Eurasianet.org
That's it for now. Check back in another month?
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