I woke up enough this morning and had a great chat with Aptowicz as she readied for work. She spent a chunk of last night compelling me to submit my writings to various literary journals and publications. I lent her my sweet microphone so she could use it to record her series of guest spots for Mongo/Indiefeed.
Mongo: Please note that she and I went on and on about how much we love you.
Returned to sleep and woke to Shappy doing house-stuffs. I re-packed my bags, hugged my brother Seasholtz and made my way downtown by train.
I met Aptowicz and Ladson for lunch at a quiet little place called Mexican Radio. I ate a fantastic bowl of chicken tortilla soup, and one of the worst bowls of Mexican mac and cheese I’ve ever had. I despise mushy pasta, which this was quite mush-tastic, and the cheese was super bland. I ate a third and stopped. Both ladies had to return to work and I had a few people to meet up with. I love my lunch ladies so much.
Bob Holman of the Bowery Poetry Club (BPC) had emailed me and wanted to discuss a project, so we planned to meet at his place at 6:30pm.
I knew my friend Amber just returned home to Manhattan, so I left her a voicemail and walked a dozen or so blocks to see my new friend Adrian, who I met with Stephen Meads the night of my Urbana feature. When we parted ways from the BPC on Tuesday night, they had grabbed a bag of mine by mistake. I met her at her place of business and reclaimed my bag. So much walking today! Adrian’s a doll (and a lady) and while it was brief, it was lovely to see her again.
CALL ME CHRISTOPHER WALKIN’
Amber called me back and we planned to meet at a park where she was to walk her dog.
I walked pretty much the entire length of 12th Street from 7th Ave to the Avenue A and 7th Street. It was a good walk, but then I had to pee once I was across from the park where Amber was meeting me. I found a café and ordered a coffee, then asked to use the washroom.
THE WORST SMELLING BATHROOM OUTSIDE OF PORT AUTHORITY
The graffiti inside was entertaining and quite dated as it was mostly anti-Bush propaganda, but the odor was that of a bag of rotting onions that had also soaked up all of the scent of Marlon Brando’s colon, circa 1999. It also lacked good lighting and toilet paper. Good thing I didn’t need it, but I do always keep a zip-lock of wet-wipes in my backpack, just in case. Best thing ever to pack. They literally save your ass in dire situations.
I met Amber and her dog Ollie in the park and we chatted it up. It was 5:35 by this point and I was a few blocks from BPC. My plans to crash with the Kagan-Trenchards changed and Amber, overhearing this conversation with Trenchard, offered to let me crash on her couch. Sweet!
We walked to her place, I dropped off a bag and my MacBook and dashed off to BPC. Met up with Eliel and Steph at the bar when Bob called to have me meet him in his apartment.
BOWERY ARTS AND SCIENCES
Inside Bob’s place, which is like a sweet, comfy library out of Willy Wonka, we discussed projects I could be involved with through Bowery Arts and Sciences, the creative non-profit wing of BPC. We had a great talk and he had another place to be, so I walked him up to St. Marks and there we hugged goodbye. I came up with a neat project for the club that I think could be a lot of fun. I’m going to write out a proposal/program for it. More on that as it develops…
On St. Marks is Sock Man, a tiny shop, shuffled in with all the tattoo shops and eateries, that sells socks and various foot items that aren’t shoes. I love Sock Man. Plain and simple. Those aware of my love of replacing the drawstrings on my hoodies with fat orange shoelaces will be glad to know that I’ve procured more fat orange shoelaces for my various hoodies.
I also got two pairs of my favorite 3-stripe tube socks. So sweet!
I made my way back to BPC where I chatted with Duv the door guy for a bit. Made a stop at Duane Reade for some sundries, and returned to eat the bacon-wrapped meatloaf special served at the café inside BPC. I cannot say enough good things about that me-at-lo-af! And I earned it after the four or so miles I walked throughout the day. I done good.
FRIDAY
In the morning, I will have coffee with Amber, then my plan is to get a meal with Trenchard and my good man Duncan Shields of Vancouver, B.C. who will be in town on business. Yay, Duncan! I then plan to catch the next bus out of town and make my way home to Wormtown.
A long, fun-filled, thought provoking day in New York City. I think my love for it has doubled.
———
Word to the nerd.
Bunnies!
This entry was written by , posted on 18 February, 2010 at 7:58 PM, filed under United States and tagged bob holman, bowery poetry club, cristin o'keefe aptowicz, karen ladson, shappy seasholtz, United States. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.