Another bright day in New York City. I went north, on the 1 train to 110th st, and the Cathedral of St John the Divine (Episcopalian). I was there in time for the Choral Mass at 11. The elegant music and grandeur of the room... it was an impelling rendezvous with God. Nick Cave was on my mind -
Gates of the Garden:
Leave these ancient places to the angels
Let the saints attend to their keeping of the cathedrals
And leave the dead beneath the ground so cold
For God is in this hand that I hold
As we open up the gates of the garden
And T.S Eliot's Ash Wednesday:
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated
And let my cry come unto Thee.
Ah I love Eliot.
I took the subway down to 14th Street to meet Toby, former history tutor of Auckland University and current PhD student at Columbia. We walked and talked and ate pizza. Something I am now a certified expert at.
That afternoon I continued southwards, past the Wall Street bull to the Staten Island Ferry. It was nice to be near the ocean again. A new one though. Abruptly my thoughts turned to my distance from home. I half-expected a dramatic physical manifestation of this epiphany, but no, I bought a coffee and got on the boat.
The Staten Island Ferry is worthy of mention because it is free. And that doesn't happen much in New York. It also happens to float rather close to the Statue of Liberty. I took photos, which of course look the same as every other Statue of Liberty you've seen, but they're my photos.
I had been warned not to waste time exploring Staten Island, so taking heed of this I exited the Ferry, waited with the crowd and promptly re-entered. The view from the ferry is amazing, just watching all the tugs and cargo ships in action and turning to see the Brooklyn Bridge as the old brick towers of lower Manhattan loom closer. The wind was biting. I loved it; reminded me of home.
Brooklyn: Atlantic Avenue Street Fair.
Like most street fairs, I was offered foods of various ethnic origins, jewellery, etc. My special find was a near perfect condition vinyl of Fleetwood Mac - Rumors. $4!
Sunday evening at the New York Town Hall on West 43rd St was Iron & Wine. If you've read this blog you'll notice I included a track of his earlier called Sodom, South Georgia. I had a Jameson's, found my seat at the front of the glamorous upper balcony, had a catnap through the support act, and on came Iron & Wine. The full band was lush: acoustics, electrics and pedal steel, loop pedals, violin, drums & percussion, keys. Amazing musicians. They played mostly from the new album, with all the best from the prior albums and ep's. And then it was over. I bought the new record at the merch table (which includes a password so that one may download the full album free, in order to listen on one's ipod easily. Genius!) I walked off down 43rd, slice of pizza and a coffee, perhaps a Camel cigarette. When in America one must do as the Romans..
St John the Divine, Iron & Wine
