October 11, 2006
New York City (ch. 3)
After a stop at a drugstore for some bandaids (poor toes) and at a cafe for some falafel, we hopped back on the subway to get to Cedar Lake Dance Studios where Donald Antrim and Tobias Wolff were reading. I enjoy the subway in general, but most especially when it's empty.
We were late. It was the falafel. So we missed most of Donald Antrim, but that's ok because we were really there for Tobias Wolff. We found some seats off to the side and near the back. I didn't realize how tired I was until we actually sat down and all was silent and we had to listen. I couldn't really see. I have this problem where if I can't see, I can't pay attention. I'll be honest, this picture is pretty much all I got out of the reading.
Afterward we rushed over to Greenwich Village to see Charles D'Ambrosio and Sherman Alexie. (Actually now that I think about it, the subway picture was taken then.) We had it all planned to get off at the 23rd St. station and walk down two blocks to 21st. Unfortunately, the subway went right past the station... and past the 18th St. one. We had to get off at 14th. So we were late (this became a recurring theme with disastrous consequences later on). I had planned for us to meet up with Catherine at the event so we could all sit together, but because we were late, she had already been seated. We got there in the middle of Charlie's reading. Then Sherman Alexie came out. Tom had told me that Sherman Alexie would knock the socks off the new pornographers (see comments to entry entitled "what do..."). After about five minutes, I thought he was right (that was until, of course, I actually saw the new pornographers). Sherman Alexie was hilarious. He totally adopted the persona of his character while he read. But while Sherman Alexie gregariously stole the spotlight, Charles D'Ambrosio had a more understated humor. I just really enjoyed both of them. Afterwards, the New Yorker served us all chocolate brownie's in honor of Sherman's birthday. Mmm... We caught up with Catherine and chatted for a bit. She took us with her on the subway to Grand Central Station and we went out separate ways.
Grand Central Station is huge, by the way.
And beautiful.
We walked back to the hotel and stopped at the Irish pub across the street to get a drink. Apparently getting a drink made Tanker hungry because we also stopped for a shish kebab. I love that you can still get a shish kebab that late at night and it seems totally normal. I just love New York. That's all there is to it.
