New Year's Eve
times square on new year's eve:
where i was on new year's eve:
now let me explain...
i tend to hate new year's eve.
well, hate may be too strong a word...
maybe i've just never had a good new year's eve.
okay that is a total lie.
i have.
the year 2000. my friend marcie and i fled the impending mania of new york city on the millenium and went to cape cod. we welcomed in the new year on a dark, empty beach with her father, his girlfriend and a bottle of champagne.
we also took this photo:
immediately after taking this flash photo in the middle of a dark beach...we fell into the sand screaming because the light of the flash had instantly burned holes into our sensitive little night-adjusted corneas.
i also had some good new year's eves growing up. new year's eve is also me mum's birthday. so we would have some family friends over and play games. and when i was feeling ambitious, i would attempt to make a short film in one night usually starring my brother and our friend shawn.
there was one memorable new year's when i made the (now classic film) "the ghost and the missing person" which featured a can of classico tomato sauce that i poured over someone's arm to look like blood. my brother quit the film mid-production and we still fight about his lack of commitment to this day.
however, my brother now works with whales and turtles...has been to florida, st. croix, alaska, mexico in the last year...is currently in maui and i am incredibly jealous.
anyway...aside from these fleeting memories, there have been a lot of bad new year's eves.
mainly because there is that pressure to go out and party. and ya' know what...that's just not me. and for years i have tried to be that person...ended up at parties and bars trying to be all crazy and festive and drunk. and it just never made sense.
so, this year. i decided that i wasn't going to try.
i've had a busy, exciting year...
...and i have a lot of big life changes coming up in 2007.
so, on this eve of the new year, i decided to do what i do best. turn off the cell phone and go on a little dave adventure...reflect on the year...think about what is to come...
now just to preface my loser/loner evening...i have to admit i had kind of a rockin' New Year's Eve Eve partyin' it up at the Hammerstein Ballroom with a performance by Jennifer Hudson. i worked with the JHud on a one-night benefit performance of Best Little Whorehouse in Texas...and she is currently blowing the world away as Effie White in Dreamgirls. i mean seriously:
she's ridiculous.
anyway...we have kept in touch a bit...and she invited me to hang with her backstage at her hotel room before and after the show and be part of the lil' hudson entourage. which included her fun friend Rob and her new lil' doggie, oscar:
who tried to eat my face:
and who had a lil' sprained leg and lil' pink cast.
then we stood right in the front to watch Jen sing her face off...
and dance with gays...
much fun.
anyway.
the next night. a little quieter.
it all started at the daryl roth theatre...which is a haven of memory in itself as i worked in the De La Guarda box office on-and-off for 3 or 4 years.
but tonight it was all about Striking 12.
a musical concert-thingy by a group called GrooveLily...beautifully directed by genius-face Ted Sperling...Striking 12 is kind of a cross between concert and performance-piece that is basically a modern re-telling of The Little Match Girl. they combine their blend of folk/pop/funk to create a melancholy yet uplifting story about New Years Eve and people with Seasonal Affective Disorder.
perfect.
also, free.
also, Valerie Vigoda:
who has a crazy cool sarah mclachlan-esque voice and plays the electric violin.
i think i love her.
i brought my roomate jim.
who was indifferent:
but then again jim doesn't like sheep:
and really, who doesn't like sheep!!??
but then we lightened up with some quality time in one of my most favorite places in New York City...
UNION SQUARE!
this photo is very blurry.
but i think it makes it feel more holiday-ish.
blurry = new year's.
also, the horse:
did you know that this statue was made by Henry Kirke Brown and unveiled in 1856. and after the fall of Fort Sumter, this location was the site of the largest public rally in North America at that time.
fyi.
i love union square. i think there is something so beautiful about it...and the horseshoe wall that surrounds the statue is one of my favorite writing spots. whether in the summer with skateboarders and peace rallies in abundance...or bundled up just enough to enjoy some time sitting in the crisp, quiet cold of the empty square in winter.
then jim and i decided to seek food and shelter...and fate lent us a hand...
without any reservation...and with the luck of a random cancellation...we scored two places at the kitchen bar seats of Mario Batali's Casa Mono...
i mean, come on! no reservation on new years! and there we were. and there we ate...
and ate...
and drank...
and ate.
and sometimes it is important to spend a little money on food that reminds you there are things in life other than Subway and Jamba Juice.
amazing.
afterwards...so full and content and on cell phone were we:
then we walked...
and we passed 48 W. 21st Street...
where my first meta-play for teenagers was produced in NYC.
my only meta-play for teenagers.
which featured the now famous adam gwon lyric:
"this is not a play
this is just another day
here at 48 west 21st street"
history in the making.
now adam and i are planning to write a dark dissonant musical that features a large blue whale and is to be directed by julie taymor. i think.
so. anyway. jim and i were planning to part ways before midnight...but first we found a nice, quiet bar to have a glass of champagne.
and we met nicole.
who knew jim.
and was drunk.
and i became fascinated with the scissor sisters video featuring people swimming with sharks, eels and jellyfish that was playing on the tv monitors behind the bar...
it reminded me that i must swim with sharks.
but it also reminded me that i had somewhere to go...
the hudson.
the river. not the dreamgirl.
i left jim and headed out towards the water.
i passed people in the streets. crossed the west side highway and walked down the sidewalk on the edge of the water...
past street lights and branches...
grating...
charlotte's web...
and finally, a bench...
now some people may not find this the ideal location to welcome in the new year. but for me...
perfection.
i could hear parties in the distance. and suprisingly the area was pretty empty.
a few people walked by. an older husband and wife sat a few benches down. two people biked by...
it was cold, but not too cold.
and it gave me an opportunity to just let it all go...think about everything i experienced this year...
new people who i am so happy to have in my life...
and old friends i am so grateful to still have in my life...
and janie...
and janie...
and others not pictured...
and family...
and "family"...
and these people...
who i will get to see a lot more of in 2007...doing things like...
and...
and people who i am so lucky to have worked with...and will get to work with again in three short weeks...
and that i went to Maui for the first time...and had the chance to live somewhere new...with a pool on my roof!...and travel to London for my second time...
and that i am leaving the comfort of the day job i have held for 6 years now...and have no idea where 2007 is going to take me...
and at midnight you could hear people screaming...the parties...fireworks started going off on the horizon...
and i was just so happy.
and there were a few drops of rain.
and everything seemed so perfect.
and it's these moments that you want to hold on to forever. just being there. and alive. and content. where you feel like the bench you are sitting on was made for you. for this moment. and that everything is okay.
and then you have to get up off that bench. and go home. and go to work. and make money. and pay the rent. and hurt people. and be hurt by people. and love people. and be loved by people. and share things. and see a good play. a good movie. read a good book. make a new friend. hear a new song. share an experience with a stranger. share an experience with a friend. with a loved one.
and then there are just so many moments to look forward to.
and whatever they are...
i am hoping 2007 brings many more.
happy 2007.
where i was on new year's eve:
now let me explain...
i tend to hate new year's eve.
well, hate may be too strong a word...
maybe i've just never had a good new year's eve.
okay that is a total lie.
i have.
the year 2000. my friend marcie and i fled the impending mania of new york city on the millenium and went to cape cod. we welcomed in the new year on a dark, empty beach with her father, his girlfriend and a bottle of champagne.
we also took this photo:
immediately after taking this flash photo in the middle of a dark beach...we fell into the sand screaming because the light of the flash had instantly burned holes into our sensitive little night-adjusted corneas.
i also had some good new year's eves growing up. new year's eve is also me mum's birthday. so we would have some family friends over and play games. and when i was feeling ambitious, i would attempt to make a short film in one night usually starring my brother and our friend shawn.
there was one memorable new year's when i made the (now classic film) "the ghost and the missing person" which featured a can of classico tomato sauce that i poured over someone's arm to look like blood. my brother quit the film mid-production and we still fight about his lack of commitment to this day.
however, my brother now works with whales and turtles...has been to florida, st. croix, alaska, mexico in the last year...is currently in maui and i am incredibly jealous.
anyway...aside from these fleeting memories, there have been a lot of bad new year's eves.
mainly because there is that pressure to go out and party. and ya' know what...that's just not me. and for years i have tried to be that person...ended up at parties and bars trying to be all crazy and festive and drunk. and it just never made sense.
so, this year. i decided that i wasn't going to try.
i've had a busy, exciting year...
...and i have a lot of big life changes coming up in 2007.
so, on this eve of the new year, i decided to do what i do best. turn off the cell phone and go on a little dave adventure...reflect on the year...think about what is to come...
now just to preface my loser/loner evening...i have to admit i had kind of a rockin' New Year's Eve Eve partyin' it up at the Hammerstein Ballroom with a performance by Jennifer Hudson. i worked with the JHud on a one-night benefit performance of Best Little Whorehouse in Texas...and she is currently blowing the world away as Effie White in Dreamgirls. i mean seriously:
she's ridiculous.
anyway...we have kept in touch a bit...and she invited me to hang with her backstage at her hotel room before and after the show and be part of the lil' hudson entourage. which included her fun friend Rob and her new lil' doggie, oscar:
who tried to eat my face:
and who had a lil' sprained leg and lil' pink cast.
then we stood right in the front to watch Jen sing her face off...
and dance with gays...
much fun.
anyway.
the next night. a little quieter.
it all started at the daryl roth theatre...which is a haven of memory in itself as i worked in the De La Guarda box office on-and-off for 3 or 4 years.
but tonight it was all about Striking 12.
a musical concert-thingy by a group called GrooveLily...beautifully directed by genius-face Ted Sperling...Striking 12 is kind of a cross between concert and performance-piece that is basically a modern re-telling of The Little Match Girl. they combine their blend of folk/pop/funk to create a melancholy yet uplifting story about New Years Eve and people with Seasonal Affective Disorder.
perfect.
also, free.
also, Valerie Vigoda:
who has a crazy cool sarah mclachlan-esque voice and plays the electric violin.
i think i love her.
i brought my roomate jim.
who was indifferent:
but then again jim doesn't like sheep:
and really, who doesn't like sheep!!??
but then we lightened up with some quality time in one of my most favorite places in New York City...
UNION SQUARE!
this photo is very blurry.
but i think it makes it feel more holiday-ish.
blurry = new year's.
also, the horse:
did you know that this statue was made by Henry Kirke Brown and unveiled in 1856. and after the fall of Fort Sumter, this location was the site of the largest public rally in North America at that time.
fyi.
i love union square. i think there is something so beautiful about it...and the horseshoe wall that surrounds the statue is one of my favorite writing spots. whether in the summer with skateboarders and peace rallies in abundance...or bundled up just enough to enjoy some time sitting in the crisp, quiet cold of the empty square in winter.
then jim and i decided to seek food and shelter...and fate lent us a hand...
without any reservation...and with the luck of a random cancellation...we scored two places at the kitchen bar seats of Mario Batali's Casa Mono...
i mean, come on! no reservation on new years! and there we were. and there we ate...
and ate...
and drank...
and ate.
and sometimes it is important to spend a little money on food that reminds you there are things in life other than Subway and Jamba Juice.
amazing.
afterwards...so full and content and on cell phone were we:
then we walked...
and we passed 48 W. 21st Street...
where my first meta-play for teenagers was produced in NYC.
my only meta-play for teenagers.
which featured the now famous adam gwon lyric:
"this is not a play
this is just another day
here at 48 west 21st street"
history in the making.
now adam and i are planning to write a dark dissonant musical that features a large blue whale and is to be directed by julie taymor. i think.
so. anyway. jim and i were planning to part ways before midnight...but first we found a nice, quiet bar to have a glass of champagne.
and we met nicole.
who knew jim.
and was drunk.
and i became fascinated with the scissor sisters video featuring people swimming with sharks, eels and jellyfish that was playing on the tv monitors behind the bar...
it reminded me that i must swim with sharks.
but it also reminded me that i had somewhere to go...
the hudson.
the river. not the dreamgirl.
i left jim and headed out towards the water.
i passed people in the streets. crossed the west side highway and walked down the sidewalk on the edge of the water...
past street lights and branches...
grating...
charlotte's web...
and finally, a bench...
now some people may not find this the ideal location to welcome in the new year. but for me...
perfection.
i could hear parties in the distance. and suprisingly the area was pretty empty.
a few people walked by. an older husband and wife sat a few benches down. two people biked by...
it was cold, but not too cold.
and it gave me an opportunity to just let it all go...think about everything i experienced this year...
new people who i am so happy to have in my life...
and old friends i am so grateful to still have in my life...
and janie...
and janie...
and others not pictured...
and family...
and "family"...
and these people...
who i will get to see a lot more of in 2007...doing things like...
and...
and people who i am so lucky to have worked with...and will get to work with again in three short weeks...
and that i went to Maui for the first time...and had the chance to live somewhere new...with a pool on my roof!...and travel to London for my second time...
and that i am leaving the comfort of the day job i have held for 6 years now...and have no idea where 2007 is going to take me...
and at midnight you could hear people screaming...the parties...fireworks started going off on the horizon...
and i was just so happy.
and there were a few drops of rain.
and everything seemed so perfect.
and it's these moments that you want to hold on to forever. just being there. and alive. and content. where you feel like the bench you are sitting on was made for you. for this moment. and that everything is okay.
and then you have to get up off that bench. and go home. and go to work. and make money. and pay the rent. and hurt people. and be hurt by people. and love people. and be loved by people. and share things. and see a good play. a good movie. read a good book. make a new friend. hear a new song. share an experience with a stranger. share an experience with a friend. with a loved one.
and then there are just so many moments to look forward to.
and whatever they are...
i am hoping 2007 brings many more.
happy 2007.
posted by Dave at 12:09 AM
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