Who has Big Balls?
this isn't about bowling so get your mind out of the gutter
Thou art cordially invited….
So, the Knicks won on Friday! I know this because I had the window open and large groups of voices cheered in delight over and over and over as the evening wore on, until finally the air exploded in screams of joy. I could almost feel the wanton hugging of strangers in the air waves.
It made me wonder when the last time I heard random cheering on the streets was…and it was during the pandemic when people banged pots and pans and cheered the health workers walking home from their hospital shifts.
The streets now host much less screaming. Yes there are still people who are high and screaming, people who are in domestic disputes and screaming, people who are drunk and screaming, people who are screaming because of rage, and the very rare small group of teenaged girls screaming as they mock one of their friends or just because they ran into each other on the street. But this collective cheering for something wonderful that we all experienced as one City? Not so common anymore.
Do you still thank the medical profession? That was less than five years ago, friends. We have a short memory.
Speaking of short memories, I went to see Masquerade, the immersive Andrew Lloyd Weber-approved, reinvented, deconstructed, rearranged, and immersive Phantom of the Opera. Truly this is the future of live theater - I love immersive shows so so so much. To live breathe and follow the show from one exquisitely decorated room to another is to live inside of the magic of the theater. Plus, in this production the talent is extraordinary - the Christine is effortless. Raul is sexy and swashbuckling. The Phantom has a splendid voice. Run if you can still walk. It is a costume party and a show. It is an experience. I took my daughter and she couldn’t get enough.
I want to know why it is so normalized to shout in rage on the street now, but so rare to shout in joy. I would have loved to leave this production and just shout into the sky “That was AMAZING!”
CREATIVE FIRES
I am starting to ask around for blurbs for THE BOY WHO LOVED TREES and realizing that a lot of people who really want to read your book do not want to read it right at this moment.
This is the actual robot barista at a new coffee shop TM:RW (which I have been pronouncing “tomorrow” - on 42 Street between 7-8th Ave that is ALL ROBOTS - there is even a (very active and very very creepy) robot dog out front that is not at all cute. The whole place has overtones of Terminator, but also Japan, and also, well, it has ROBOTS so it is very cool. (and yes, when you write the word ROBOTS you have to shout it and also write it in all caps. I don’t make the rules.)
This week was BUSY with creative inspiration. I started Monday with the Poets Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It is a fundraiser for Poets House (a nonprofit I absolutely love that has a library of hundreds of thousands of poetry books and chapbooks that you can freely browse whenever you like, overlooking the Hudson). The walk reunited me with several poets I admire (like Mahogany L Browne) as well as allowing me to meet new ones (like Tina Cane) — and just in general, it was a glorious night of words and walking.
This week I also met with another woman I deeply admire, she runs an active philanthropic Foundation that helps Lithuanian causes. But we met as friends. She reminded me that having fun sometimes means being absolutely silly with no regard for the opinions of other people - so, on her recommendation, I went to get fairy hair again (a doctor friend had introduced me to this tinsel accessory that ties to your hair and flashes in glittery ways that give joy) — anyway, thanks Jurate! I did it!
Besides Masquerade, I also went with a friend to see 7 Minutes at the Chains Theater. The fun thing about this VERY wordy play was that it was performed in French. There were supertitles (like subtitles but above the action instead of below)! It was admittedly hard to follow however, because the dialogue was as quick and breathless as Aaron Sorkin’s (and interesting: the play is basically 12 Angry Men if they were angry women in a factory break room discussing the pros and cons of permanently giving up 7 minutes of break time to stop a strike and keep their jobs.) The French audience loved the show unconditionally. I liked it a lot but felt like I had spent the two hours speed-reading.
Among all this, I did a public event for my creative-parent guidebook BOOK & BABY with Richard Jeffrey Newman at The World’s Borough Bookstore in Jackson Heights, Queens. The cool thing about Jackson Heights is it is one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the WORLD.
I loved it - the bookstore carried two American authors in LITHUANIAN. (this tiny little bookstore - the footprint fits in my living room!) We had the most interesting discussion about language acquisition and translation - sorry you missed it? We may do it again!!!
Here is a link to all my photos from this week.
An ask: Does anyone have a list or link to a blog where someone has written out how and where to go to request book reviews for a novel? I feel like I need to be much more organized about this. Please drop me a note in the comments if you have a system that works.
Random Final Thought
If you are reading this blog and really enjoying it, do please consider subscribing as a paid member. Now that it is summer, sitting down to write takes a lot of effort - so if you really are enjoying it, please consider an upgrade to your support. See you on the streets!! Walk with me. Keep your eyes open. Tell me what you see.
Regarding how to ask for book reviews: Joe Walters, who runs Independent Book Review, wrote a book last year called The Truth About Book Reviews. https://independentbookreview.com/the-truth-about-book-reviews-by-joe-walters/
Also, maybe this novel would be a fit for the Night Beats newsletter? Contact me about that one :)