All photos are mine unless otherwise noted.
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Cliff Browder who does a wonderful blog about goings on in New York City, past and present, has for the past two weeks been writing on small shops in the Village, and stores around a few environs in Manhattan. Because of his blogs I revisited my trip early last November to New York, and decided to show a few images I took after visiting cliff and my brother where they live just off Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. They were taken at night and I was surprised at the overall darkness of the street and the lack of people on the sidewalks at 8 o'clock that night. Not the busyness I remember when I lived in the Village.
The first eight photos are of shops on Bleecker Street, the next two were taken on Eighth Avenue just around the corner and are of one of the many small food stores found everywhere in New York, and a diner a few feet away.
There is a sort of loneliness in the photos for me, which is not the New York that I remember when I lived there. An absence now of nine years and living in Maine for that time has changed my perspective, how I view the streets of Manhattan. I remember bright lights and much neon as I was for a long time very much a part of that city.
A few of these photos were on this blog last year which is why they may seem familiar.
So, please read the well written blog by Cliff Browder, well worth the time spent. He is an exceptional and gifted writer and author.
http://cbrowder.blogspot.com/
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A lot of my years in NYC revolved around Jazz, both live and recorded. The music will evoke memories for probably the rest of my life - not necessarily about New York but about the vibrancy of life and the joy of living. It is a music that is at once deeply improvisational and requires listening on a deeper level to musicians who allow what comes from their heart and soul to surface through their instruments. Real present moment stuff, and perhaps a spirituality in its own right. God creates in many ways and this music form always has been about creating what is longing to reveal itself.
Here is a selection from an album circa 1958 called 'Moanin' by Art Blakey, the great drummer, and his group - The Jazz Messengers - who changed the face of Jazz many times over. The tune is "Along Came Betty."
Click here: https://app.box.com/s/664pqzxu91fimvrd318i
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Reflections,
Pick a mirror, view and remember
what is because of what was.
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A few images without comment.
"Girl In Red"
A favorite photo.
(Left click to enlarge.)
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Two shots taken on Eighth Avenue south of 14th. St.
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Remembering New York,
vibrant and alive -
an exciting place to live in while young enough
to enjoy the rush of life unfolding
in a myriad of different ways.
Today I am grateful for Maine and the chance
to put life in perspective,
and the opportunity to find a creative outlet
in an environment that suits me well
at this stage of life.
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Some humor:
Here in this area of Maine we have had 28-30 inches of show in the last two weeks. Some people are trying to find where the bears are hibernating.
Peace, Bill Lagerstrom
