According to the difficult to doubt calendar, I have been in New York a stitch longer than a week this tumble around. I arrived in New York on a stark cold Monday morning. My sublet (as they do) had fallen through right before my arrival. I set about remedying that before meeting HEK; a Musician I met in Iceland last October, in Times Square. I had told HEK he could stay with me, but as of my arrival, had no place for me to stay with me.
Waiting for HEK in Danny’s Deli off the square, I wrote a poem about bananas and friend texted me to tell me he had an opening in his show at Bizarre Bar in Bushwick. HEK arrived at our meeting point on time and we took the subway straight to the bar. Each of us played a musical set between an unfolding circus sideshow performance. There was fire, there was suspension, and at the end of the night HEK, enthralled from a room full of applause, declared that he should have come to New York a long time ago.
Better sometime than no time. HEK has finally brought his troubadour-esque music to the States. We played three shows this week and two days ago he somehow managed to sign a contract that will release his last and next album the USA. This happened when a publicist in the audience of our last show at The Goodbye Blue Monday pulled him aside after his set.
Other things, like living arrangement fell together in the fashion such things always do. In life you keep trying, hopefully have a few friends to whom it’s not a burden to couch surf with in the meantime. On a long enough timeline, with enough effort, something always works out.
I’m only halfway through my three weeks here, before I head back to Central America, but I can already hear a thought bubbling, “But you’ve only just arrived! There’s still so much to do in New York! So many fabulous people!”
I package this recurring thought the way I have to: It’s not worth spending time in a place that isn’t difficult to leave. With New York, there is always a comforting silver lining: I will be back—the sooner, the better.
With HEK and I jamming in the loft till way too late every night and playing shows every other day, this trip has been all about music. New York may be a lot of things to many different people, but to most, it is a city that sings. Some of the artists I’ve heard play, or played shows with, are worth checking out. There’s HEK, who now has a ticket to the American Radio. There’s also Julianne Mason, who makes lovely music with guitarist Tom Hoy. There is Tom’s band, band From Below, which headlined a fundraising show for the Integral Heart Foundation. The show also featured, Lady Hammer, and Downcity Armory—all outstanding in their respective genres. Downcity Armory made their whole mini tour a fundraiser.
It seems like all of this musical Hoopla in New York is leading to tonight’s first Metamorphosis Benefit Show. Six outstanding acts will take the stage at Lulu’s on 113 Franklin Street in Brooklyn. The venue is gracious enough to give us the space to fundraise for The Integral Heart Foundation as well as a percentage of liquor sales for the night. We are putting these funds towards TravelWriteSing and The Expeditioner’s Travel Blogger’s Without Borders, a campaign to raise $10,000 for 55 Guatemalan students with The The Integral Heart Foundation. Many thinks to J. Martinez from Wanderlust Latina for taking the reins of organizing Metamorphosis. It would not have happened without her help.
I know—I know: that’s a lot of linkage for two paragraphs. But check out the music and let it speak for itself. And if you are in New York tonight, come join us for an enjoyable night in support of a good cause. If you are not in New York, or are reading this too late, than make yourself a part of this growing movement for good and donate whatever you can here. My youngest brothers (12 and 14) donated their Christmas money to this cause (:
What has been most inspiring about this trip, is seeing the willingness of people. Some are getting involved by volunteering directly. Others are donating; others are simply showing up to shows showcasing a worthwhile cause.
I like the idea of listening to music from artists who have the tendency to use their art from to better the world. Ditto writers, painters, poets, and basket weavers. Come on, if you are going to buy a basket anyways, why not buy it from a weaver who gives a percentage of his profits to an orphanage?
According to T.S. Eliot, the world ends with a whimper. But maybe big problems in the world will eventually bee solved by our whisper. Tomorrow’s benefit concert, Metamorphosis, came together because an assortment of people joined, identified a problem, and from the comfort of doing what they were good at doing, communally said, “Yeah, we can help out with that.” This is the sort of positive change we should strive to encourage, because it is the most contagious.
