Who will stop the snow?

Good day today. Met up with my old friend Charles George in the Village. He's a visual artist (painter, sculptor) who did the cover of The Inspiration Cha-Cha. He moved from Toronto to New York five years ago and I hadn't seen him since. Now he's working for a daily news tabloid here, making maps and charts and stuff. It was great to see him. Exchange of gossip, talk of Parker Posey, and more. We went to a Burmese restaurant for lunch. Really good to be back in touch with him.



Afterwards, I took a walk down to the Lower East Side, through the tenement neighbourhoods, amazed at how much Jewish stuff there still is down there.

Then into Chinatown, and finally into Little Italy. Really nice time. I've been very good about staying away from bookstores the last couple days. It's the only sane thing to do.

Disappointed to see on the news today that George W. Bush's approval ratings have gone up a little, because of the supposedly good economy here. Weird being in the country he runs.

This evening I met up with Dre and Jim from the Randy Newman listserv. Had a beer or two and then went to an Off-Off-Broadway production of Hot l Baltimore, which starred Kymm Zuckert, another member of the Randylist. Kim was spectacular. The personification of the brassy broad. Funny as hell. The play itself is pretty uneven, but entertaining nonetheless. The theatre was on the sixth floor of a building, in a tiny space that seated maybe 50 or 60 people. There were 14 in the cast. Then Jim and Dre and I headed off to some posh Broadway steakhouse for more beer. There were about 200 cow chunks in the window there. Chunks of cow, you know what I mean.

Really great visiting with these guys, who I also saw when I was here last February.

Dre and I took a walk through Times Square just before midnight. Man. It's so audacious. Grotesque and exciting at the same time.

Tomorrow morning I'm meeting Larry Fagin, and then Ron Padgett. Then it's off to the airport, and I sure hope the plane leaves on time. There's a "storm" supposedly coming through tonight that may delay travel. Wanna get home on time for the end-of-the-year party at Dana's gallery.

Over and out.