It’s hard to picture what my life would have been like if I’d be raised in the midwest without ever having seen the ocean except for the occasional family vacations or trips with friends. Much of my life has revolved around the small beach community in which I grew up. Birthday parties, school events, sports ceremonies, dances, days spent with friends and family have all linked back to the small crest of Long Island Sound that splashes against the edges of East Lyme, my sleepy New England hometown.

With the ebb and flow of the waves came the rise and fall in the volume of traffic clogging the streets. New Yorkers coming to their summer homes on the shore, inlanders coming to breathe in the sweet salty air, families busing vans full of sun burned and sandy kids to the numerous sweets shops up and down Main Street. And then, in the fall, the streets quiet again, with only the not so distant memories of sand castles and sun bathing lingering in the crisp autumn air. Every year, the same rush of summer and hush of winter.

On a particularly warm day during a recent trip home, I went and sat down by the boardwalk. The sun was shining, there were barely any clouds in the sky and the water was calmly lapping against the sand. It was as if it were summer again (just minus the hoards of people).

The beginning of the Boardwalk in downtown Niantic, CT.

The beach is called Hole in the Wall, its only entrance being through a walkway underneath the train tracks that run down the shoreline from Boston to DC. The park in the background is McCook Point Park, obscuring the neighboring beach of the same name.

It was amazing to see how little had changed since the summer prior. There were less people, sure, a slight coolness to the air, of course, but it was the same. The people had come and gone, just their footprints left in the sand, but the beach, even in the winter, was as it always had been. Every year, new people lay their blankets down on the sand at McCook’s; every year, there are new faces, people I don’t recognize. It’s strange to see the people change, but to see the places always stay the same. Sure, there’s a new pub on Main Street, a new grocery store on Chesterfield Road, a new boutique clothing store growing out of a lot that was once occupied by a mom and pop fish shop, but the beach, it’s always remained unchanged.

After a while at the boardwalk, I climbed the path up to the park and down on to the small rock cliff that hangs over the beach. It was surreal sitting on those rocks, remembering when I had last been there, in that exact same spot, looking over the water. It was over five years ago, on the morning before I graduated high school. But there I was, now in the last semester of graduate school, watching that same ocean break upon the same rocks. So much of me had changed, yet so little of this place had. It was comforting sitting there, feeling as if time had almost stood still. It was comforting knowing that so much of my life can and will change, but that the town, the beach where I grew up and made the memories that have helped shape me into the person I am today, will remain constant.

The people had changed. I had changed. But the place had stayed the same; the beach had stayed the same.

It’s that time of the year again, as I wait for the first big snowfall of the year, when New York City, in one single day, fulfills the promise of its greatness.

The City is quieter, and the snow removes the hard edges of the tough city streets and the towering skyscrapers, which while magnificent in their structure, also can be rigid and foreboding in their size and density.

The snow softens everything, including people’s hearts.

It also takes many by surprise, bringing the look of wonder and happiness to the faces of the most hardened New Yorkers.  Women take the arms of their male companions and tip toe in their high heels as they head to nearby restaurants for holiday lunches.  And while others have been savvy enough to wear knee high boots, they still grasp at the arms of their male friends as their heeled boots slip and slide in the accumulating snow on the sidewalks.

The women smile and laugh, and the men cherish the opportunity to be strong and steady.  It seems everyone’s spirits are lightened, and all are thankful for the winter’s first snow.

And why not.

Life can be hard sometimes, and often seems harder in the grip of the urban throng that congests this historic village. Why not laugh and smile and grab for a chivalrous arm that is rarely offered on any other day of the year.

Why not be glad as the lights of the stores on famous 5^th Avenue take on a magical glow in the winter wonderland setting;  Saks, Tiffany, Rockefeller Center and its towering Christmas tree with thousands of lights adorning the ice skaters below in the heart of midtown Manhattan.

It’s amazing how this little gift from Mother Nature can produce the miracle of brightening the hearts, spirits, and attitudes of millions of people during its first fall of the year.

Last year, during the City’s first snow, I took a moment and shifted my gaze from the grandeur of the magnificent avenues, to the side streets of smaller stores and residential life.   In the falling snow, the brownstones of a past century came alive and brought back the feel of times long since forgotten.  It was easy to imagine men in long coats, scarves and top hats emerging from the ornate stoops, hailing carriages with horses prancing joyously in front.

With that image still lingering, I continued on my way, enjoying the fantasy of clopping hooves mixed with the real sounds of people laughing, and courtesies being extended.

Now, almost a year later, I once again anticipate the first big snowfall of the year.  I know it won’t be a week before the newly white carpet covering the City becomes a dirty wet reminder of how bleak this City can become during the long winter months that follow the holiday season.

But during that first big snowfall it’s New York City at its best, and we get to experience its greatness during that one special day of the year.

Happy Holidays

New York magazine posed this question to 100 Soho pedestrians:
“Which of the following nominally free things would you pay for if that was the only way to get them?”

I was interested to learn that “public bathrooms” beat out “the right to vote.”  Not surprising.  But they also beat out “sex.”   And “network television” beat out sex.

And “copies of The Onion” beat out not only all three of the above-mentioned items but also “drinking water” and “air” and “the love of parents and family.”

And one heartening discovery is that 14 people would pay for “subway musicians” if that was the only way to get them.  I agree.  One of life’s great pleasures.

Right up there with The Onion.

I’m in New York this week, with my Mum who is visiting from Australia.

I noticed, aside from all the usual tourist attractions, that a lot of New Yorkers smoke. I mean, almost every third person seems to be smoking. This is surprising, considering that this story claims that the Health Department have released new figures that show NY smoking rates are decreasing, while America wide smoking rates are increasing.

What surprises me even more is that people don’t seem to be bothered by all the smokers. Even if you light up on a busy street, no one says anything. In Sydney city, I’m used to lighting up away from people, and still getting that sly muttered comment about ‘disgusting smokers’, or the glare, or my favourite, the fake cough.

People in New York smoke in doorways, in the middle of the street, and in huge crowds at crossings or on main strips. I’ve yet to hear anyone complain, and this baffles me. Why, would the stereotypically obnoxious outspoken self important New Yorker have nothing to say on this issue? It’s certainly not an issue of tact. I watched a table full of New Yorkers make fun of the Russians for a long, boring and repetitive 10 minutes. In a Russian restaurant, run by a Russian family.

Does anyone have an insights on this? Is smoking in the Big Apple completely acceptable? Legally it’s not allowed inside, but there seems to be no etiquette once you hit the street.

宣伝で申し訳ないのですが、仕事で関わっているウェブビデオシリーズNew York on the Clockぜひご覧ください！

ニューヨークというユニークな街を形作るニューヨーカー達に仕事についてお話ししてもらっています。新しいエピソードは２週間に一度アップされます。Podcastもしているのでそちらの方も是非購読ください！

これまで５人のインタビューがアップされた中、上のベティーは私が撮影、編集しました。これからももっと面白いニューヨーカー達が登場するので乞うご期待！

毎週いろいろな人をインタビューさせてもらっていますが、出身も、目標も、人生観もみんな様々。。ニューヨークがこんなに活気に満ちている理由が見えてきた気がします。。 I heart NYC!

New York on the Clock
http://www.thirteen.org/nyontheclock/

“Hunchfront” is one of the more hilarious possible side effects from Prescott Pharmaceuticals (written by Peter Gwinn). My other two favorites are “Spontaneous Gypsy Scarf” and “Involuntary Narnia Adventures.”

After seeing the Colbert Report writers at the Paley Center (and getting autographs from two very gracious and funny writers) I killed some time at the Rockefeller Center Skating rink sketching Prometheus before heading over to the Town Hall Theater to see Patton Oswalt’s show with mom. As I was leaving Rockefeller Center, I realized the sketch might’ve been more interesting from a different angle rather than dead on, so another potential do-over (at least before it gets too cold and tourist-y out there).

(My apologies for the crazy lighting in the photos. The scanner should be set up by tomorrow!)

The New York Yankees Empire wins again, this time against the Phillies.

Speaking of crying when for first victories, I didn’t cry when we elected  our first black president but I’ll probably cry if the Philadelphia Eagles win their first Superbowl. Weird No?

By Mirjam Donath

Following the mayoral election, which had put one of the wealthiest New Yorkers, Michael Rubens Bloomberg, back to the post he has been holding since 2002, an innovative online radio channel, The End of The Dial, asked around the five boroughs: What do New Yorkers wish to be changed in the City in the next four years?

http://www.theendofthedial.com/politics.html

My family moved to Alaska just before I turned 7. Leaving the familiar (and familial) confines of the midwest to start a life in the Last Frontier was no small endeavor for my parents. As a family, we were heading North to build an entirely new life for ourselves. “What an adventure,” we all thought.

We didn’t know anyone in Alaska, nor did either of my parents have jobs lined up. So, naturally, some extended family members thought the move was a crazy idea. “You can’t just up and move to Alaska! What’ll you do with all your furniture?!” Seriously. My parents were embarking on the adventure of a lifetime and their relatives were discouraging them from following their dream because of…furniture?

Many years later, as I prepared to move from Seattle to New York City, people had questions for me, too: “Where will you live?” (I didn’t know.) “Do you know people there?” (I had one childhood friend and one musician acquaintance.) “Do you have a job yet?” (No.) And, yes, I was asked, “What’ll you do with all your stuff?”

I’m happy to say that fears about what to do with my furniture never occurred to me, but I was scared of moving to New York: what if I took the stage at a jam session and everybody laughed? What if I took the wrong subway and wound up in the South Bronx? What if the rats really were as big as cats? What if I moved to New York, nothing ever happened to me, and I died one of those New York deaths where nobody noticed for two weeks until the smell drifted into the hallway?

You know what scared me more than anything else, though? What if my fear kept me from pursuing my lifelong dream of living and singing in New York City?

The scariest thing about making big changes in our lives has nothing to do with the logistics of selling our furniture or finding a job. The scariest part of transformation is saying “Yes!” to uncertainty, fear, and setbacks. Whether we’re moving to a new place, letting go of a toxic relationship, starting a business, or learning a new skill, there are bound to be moments of sheer terror.

1955 - Girl views NYC from rooftop by Elliott Erwitt

The good news is this: every time we undergo transformation, be it literally or figuratively, we discover a little bit more of what it means to be human. We become wiser, more expansive, more creative.

As for me? I became a New Yorker.

New Yorkers are fleeing the state and city in alarming numbers — and costing a fortune in lost tax dollars, a new study shows.

Source:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/tax_refugees_staging_escape_from_qb4pItQ71UXIc0i6cd3UpK

to the core…

SIGN IT HERE: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/nealbinnyc/ or on Facebook: Neal B. in NYC

Only takes a minute!  PASS IT ON!

Click to View More Info and Pass this on!

I love Kathy Griffin (http://www.kathygriffin.net/) and I am trying to woo her into coming to NYC for some D-list fun!

She has been doing too many A-list appearances; won too many Emmy Awards -so I have something D-list for her!

I have been on The Wendy Williams Show, RTL, 5aaa, etc, for my love and expertise of Sex and the City. The official Sex and the City Tour (http://www.screentours.com/), which is visited by thousands each year, has asked me to go on this fantastic tour and make a video for them!

I thought what better way than to get some great comediennes to go! Kathy and Sex go hand in hand!

I figure the more people I have behind me – that harder is will be for Kathy to say no. The tour said they could accommodate her, give her fans a special discount code, among other things. And FREE PRESS is never bad! I could see her doing something like this.

Help me get the ball rolling and sign the petition!

SIGN IT HERE: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/nealbinnyc/

Also feel free to post this anywhere you find appropriate!

Neal
www.NealBinNYC.wordpress.com
Facebook: Neal B. In NYC Fan Page

I descended the stairs into the subway station at Union Square after a long, if uneventful, day of errands, music, and work. My feet were aching and I had switched my mind to “autopilot” for the ride home, which I hoped would be short. I was absentmindedly digging in my purse for my notebook; I’m a compulsive list maker, and I figured I’d sketch out the next day’s schedule while on the subway.

That’s when I heard the music. Now, it’s not unusual to hear music in the New York City subway. It is a bit unusual, however, to hear really good music in the New York City subway. A sweet and gravelly female voice caught my ear and I walked closer, making my way through the crowd of people who had gathered to listen. The crowd was a cross-section of the city itself, filled with New York night-shifters of all ages and colors. I tossed some money in the open guitar case and took a flier. The band was called The Bill Murray Experience.

The members of the band all looked to be in their early 20s and they were playing blues and jazz standards. Backed by bass, banjo and guitar, the singer was also playing the washboard; her time was excellent, she was dead in tune, and most of all, she was performing with a palpable sense of joy. In fact, everyone in the band was swinging hard, and they all seemed to be having a great time. (Below: a YouTube clip of The Bill Murray Experience busking in Washington Square Park this summer.)

It takes something pretty special to make a crowd of tired, homeward-bound New Yorkers stop and pay attention, which is exactly what the Bill Murray Experience did. We all stood and listened to tunes like “St. Louis Blues” and “Shine,” totally engaged in the present moment. The Bill Murray Experience transformed the Union Square subway station into a 1920s-era speakeasy of sorts. Their exuberance was a reminder that the music of life is everywhere and that great beauty lives in the ordinary. So much for “autopilot.”

As a compulsive list-maker, I’ve added another item to my list of “Things I Love About New York”: on the most unremarkable of days, just when I least expect it, New York can provide a moment of Total. Consciousness. So I got that goin’ for me…which is nice.

Building mosaics since 1989.

Taken: 8th St and Broadway (SE corner)
This guy’s been building mosaics on NYC’s light posts (especially near Astor Place) since 1989! He’s built about 67 out of 80 (that have been approved by the Dept. of Transportation). It takes about three months to do one light post.

Mosaic Man: The trail [of mosaic light posts] begins on Broadway down 8th St. to Astor Place down to Saint Marks Place all the way down to 4th St and then up 4th St to Tower Records and runs along Broadway from 4th St to 8th St. I believe that if I hadn’t been delayed from lack of finances I could have been headed towards Harlem as we speak!

Link to interview.

I think this video says a fair amount about New Yorkers. Most of them don’t even give this slowly moving woman a second glance. They have places to go and just rush on by. But at the same time, they just leave this woman alone. A slowly moving person with a camera doesn’t even merit their attention.

This is the fourth entry in a series that will review each track on Jay-Z’s new Blueprint 3 album.

“I can make Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can”‘

Next up on the record is Empire State of Mind featuring Alicia Keys. I feel bad reviewing the tracks so soon after the release of the album because as I am hearing the songs in different settings and as I hear them more and more, some of them are starting to grow on me. I didn’t watch the original airing of the MTV Music Video Awards when they ended the show with Jay-Z and Alicia Keys doing this song (and that strange incident with Lil Mama). I finally saw it earlier this week and that made me listen to the song with a new set of ears. Lyrically he really captured the essence of NYC. The unique thing about it is that he captured it from all angles and as multicultured as the city is, all New Yorkers should be able to relate to this song in some way.

Sonically the record is very big. It has a big band sound and Alicia Keys has that classic Broadway style voice that puts it over the top. I just found out that there is a sample in it from The Moments’ Love On a Two Way Street. It wasn’t listed in the credits of the album or at least I didn’t see it when I read them. This is definitely top 3 on the album and Jay did his thing as usual.

I don’t Think Lil Mama was supposed to be up there…wtf?

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Home

16. I will always think of myself as a New Yorker.

17. English is my second language, though now I speak so little Armenian the point is pretty moot.

18. I think moot is a great word.

19. I can be very impatient.  This is a flaw, and I’m working on it.

20. I can’t help but mentally redecorate or renovate almost every room I walk into.  I also immediately look for the exits, in case of an emergency like a fire or zombie attack.  (Have I mentioned yet that I’m obsessed with zombies?  No?  Next week then…)

…douche-bag New Yorkers.

Now, I’m not talking about the stereotype that all people from NYC are jerks.  That is actually quite far from the case.  Most people up here are very helpful and friendly, especially if you are lost.  Especially if you are lost, going to New Jersey on the PATH train.

BUT.  I am talking about the sort of people who live downtown, so they won’t leave downtown.  They live in the East Village or maybe the West Village or maybe even Brooklyn (which makes for a better excuse to not travel above 14th Street – but only slightly).  But let’s think about this.  The entire island is about 13 miles.  THIRTEEN. MILES.

When I lived in Florida, that was about HALF the drive to school in the morning.  That was 1/3 of the drive to Disney from college.  That was an entire city away.

I hate having to be punished for wanting to live with more space, rather than in an 2×4 downtown for twice the price.  LEAVE THE VILLAGE!  There is more to this city than just your stupid bars and American Apparel-clad friends!  I’m not saying come all the way up to Harlem (unless I’m sick and need soup, which I am and I do) but at least try out Hell’s Kitchen or the Upper West Side.  It’s nice!

Some New Yorkers may want to reconsider exclaiming “Thank God” when arriving at their destination subway station beginning next Monday.

Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/21/new.york.subway.ads/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn