I know I go into to the city everyday and have been for years. But an evening in the city can be very different. On Thursday, I met Christopher on the East side of the Village to see the rock musical “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” at the Public. While Chris had a long, drawn out ride on a bus, I took a leisurely walk up Houston Street. I passed numerous little bars, cafes and restaurants, as well as many “girls in their summer clothes”. A pleasurable walk that landed me in the bar Swifts on East 4th for a Guinness and one of the best wheat bars I ever tasted (DreamWeaver). While waiting for Chris to navigate the cross-town subways, I wandered through one of the few remaining record stores for new music – Other Music. I can safely say I had only heard of maybe 20% of the artists found there and, though I didn’t particularly like my random purchase, it was great to know that such a place still existed.

Chris finally made it and we walked over to St. Marks for a shawarma (not great) and an ice cream sandwich on a waffle from a truck on the street. When we got to the theater, I had good feelings about the play since the majority of the pre-show music was by Spoon (a favorite band). It was a great show! Very energetic and fresh. Both hysterical and historical. They took Jackson and made him a populist candidate ala the Tea Baggers, as well as stretching a bit to portray him as our “Emo” President. Hopefully it will be re-staged for Broadway soon. Chris had a great time. The only drag of any evening in NYC is the trip back to Jersey – particularly if you have to take the bus. Commuting CAN drain the life out of you.

Yesterday, Kerry and I went back in for dinner with a friend of mine. We were meeting my friend Deb from Maine, who was in town for the food show with her daughter, Eliza. This time, we took the boat in. The first stop on the boat was Sandy Hook to retrieve sandy, sun burnt New Yorkers for their return to the city. It was a great day for the beach so I was a bit jealous. (However, I don’t like a crowded and touristy beach.) Supposedly it was Gay Pride weekend, but we saw no evidence of that as we made our way to the West Village… oddly enough two blocks from where we both work. A cocktail on the boat reminded both Kerry and myself that we had not really eaten anything that day and needed something in our stomachs if we were to continue. So we stopped at a bodega near the restaurant and had a bit of fruit and a power bar sitting on a bench outside. New York was in full swing. People we beginning to leave local bars where they had been watching the U.S. soccer team lose to Ghana. Tourists wandered about curiously. An elderly gentleman on the bench across from us was having his hair cut. There was a woman behind us knitting while wearing a wool cap with pom-poms and mittens. Folks were dressed up and folks were dressed down. Our dinner at Aqua Grill was fabulous as always and it was great to see Deb and Eliza again (Eliza is Chris’ age and she was a little girl when I saw her last).

We made the last boat home. As the boat docked, two unseen barges directly across from the pier exploded in light. Fireworks. Why? Who knows? The beginning of a week of Fourth of July fireworks? Gay Pride? We didn’t care because we were right underneath them! And they were spectacular. Slowly the boat pulled away and we continued to watch colors burst in the air. The sound and relight both reflected off the tall buildings of Wall Street. Some moments later, we passed Governors Island which was generating its own lights and colors from one of their summer concerts. New York receded after the bridge and home lay ahead of us. A perfect ending.