The Big Apple; Memories and the Present

Going, going, back to, back to, New York, New York.

This very week I'm headed to the East Coast with the entire Jazz Mafia Orchestra to perform Brass Bows and Beats at a series of shows starting in New York City and then up to Canada, back to parts of NY, and then back to Canada. I have to admit that it is pretty darn exciting. I hope to write the entire trip down (mostly just the drama) and then post it here on Dublin's World. Finally! Something to frigging blog about!

Last time I was New York City it was 1996 and I was 16 years old. I was wearing a tastefully made hemp necklace. I was sort of in my organic super underground hip-hop phase at that point and going to NYC for me was like going to Mecca for a Muslim in the thralls of jihad. I stayed with my sister who at that time was a street reporter for the Times and was extremely stressed out. We did the basic tourist stops; Statue of Liberty, old theatres, parts of Brooklyn, Harlem, Manhattan, and the Park. I asked to go to the Empire State Building but my sister said that was in Chicago. Like I said, she was very stressed out in her job.

There were many highlights to the trip, one of them being getting my hair cut at an old barbershop in Brooklyn where the barber had never cut straight hair before. He spent an hour and a half giving me a fade. Afterwards he took about twenty photographs of my head to record the moment. I remember one of the other barbers asking my sister if OJ had messed it up for all black men. She said she wasn't sure what he meant and he said: "I'm saying: can a brother get with a white girl no more?"

Towards the end of my stay my sister got word that there was a free concert in Harlem that day. She said it was a hip-hop show and we made our way over there by Subway where we found thousands of people gathered in central Harlem. The show was called Hood Stomp and it was basically my greatest dreams come true. The performers that day were the following:
Goodie Mob
Fat Joe
Channel Live
KRS One
The Fugees
Notorious B.I.G with Puff Daddy
Wu Tang Clan
& Nas.
The show was put on by Sista Soulja and was the greatest thing I had seen up to that point in my life. I saw Biggie wander from one side of the stage to the other performing "Party and Bullshit". I saw KRS perform "The Bridge is Over" in New York City with thousands of people screaming along. My sister left to go work and then I was the only white person there except for the cops which was a brand new experience for me at that point. I hit a blunt that a guy had next to me and watched Channel Live perform "Spark Mad Izm" and I started to wonder if I in fact was dreaming.

Wu Tang came on, said a few words, and then someone was shooting in the crowd and everyone was running. That was a brand new experience as well. It was like the scenes in Braveheart where thousands of people just run at each other and it's complete and utter chaos. I had never felt adrenalin like that. I saw old women on the street being ran over by countless feet. I saw cops running. I saw police barricades destroyed by throngs of people and shredded wood fly up into the air.

I ran for blocks (this is before I started smoking) and finally realized that there was no one around me. I went and caught the train back to my sister's. On the train I saw a Puerto Rican kid about my age and I said: "Were you at the show man? That was unbelievable! Everyone was running!! Were you there!! Holy shit! I can't believe it! I can't believe it!"
He looked at me and shook his head. He was amused. I'm from Graton people. Graton California. We don't have gun fights and free shows that feature every East Coast hip-hop star in Graton.

Anyway; I will only be in New York City for 24 hours this time and I don't think there is a chance in hell of this trip ever being as memorable or life changing as my 1996 trip. I am very happy to be going back to New York with the wisdom and mature perspective that I have gained in the last 15 years. Plus I'm over twenty one now. Please stand by for updates in the coming days.