Life in NYC

Yes, unrest and unruliness abound in NYC. Still, there is this:

On Friday, the 22nd, Mark Morris Dance Group performed at BAM, set to the music of, get this, Burt Bacharach. Burt Bacharach, someone I when younger eschewed as musak. However folks like Elvis Costello and now Mark Morris see delight in him, and if there is a word for the performance it is delight, as in light, as in clouds moving across the stage, as in a slight brushing of breeze, straight forward lyrics and tinkly music that had me smiling. And who cannot benefit from a smile? I think I heard the lyrics for the first time. Tunes such as The Look of Love, I Say a Little Prayer for You, Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head, I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, and others, set to dancers moving with ease and brought a joy and airiness to the evening. The angst of our times stayed for a few hours. Anything wrong with that?

The heaviness returned on Saturday, where Doug Varone and Dancers, set to the music of Handel in the first part and to the music of Handel and an electronic Handel remixed with a chorale group of a hundred at the back of the stage in the second part, the piece was both disconcerting and exuberant, especially in the second part when the troupe marched synchronously to a driving bass beat that I wanted to throb to. The first part hinted of decay and decadence and discord, the second a dance club.

Then there was Sunday, a music concert held at Corpus Christi Catholic Church near Columbia U, Ballake Sissoko and Derek Gripper, the kora and guitar, riffing to Malian traditional music …

What threads the weekend is the possibility of the transformative and, dare I , the momentarily transcendent?

Life in NYC

Yesterday was a brilliant warm day, unusual for March, and it brought people out, the streets buzzing and hopping with exuberance. So I traipse over to Le Pan Quotidan across from my office on 21st and Broadway.

I lay my book People of the Book on a table for one and go inside to purchase a ready-made sandwich. Two minutes, more or less. When I return to my table, eager to sit in the sun and read, the book is gone. A water stained, hard covered book. How much could it be worth? Gone.

I’m sitting enjoying the sun on my face. A commotion gathers on the street. A dude, decked out in oversized sunglasses and spangly shirt on a bicycle, is admonishing pedestrians to get out of his way, that they are in the bike lane when there is a sidewalk for such folks, all this while honking his horn and riding the wrong way up Broadway.

Still sitting, I see on guy in black Nazi-like helmet and ski mask stop in front of a bicyclist riding the wrong way up Broadway. He’s shaking his head and won’t let him pass. This guy is riding a vehicle more like a motorcycle than a bicycle. In the bike lane.

Huberman Lab Podcast

For those interested in working through emotional stuckness, check out this episode about a particular journaling protocol. In addition, pay attention midway through where he makes a connection between one’s emotions and a positive impact on the immune system. It has to do with the neuroplasticity of the brain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAZn9dF3XTo&t=1s

Sam Harris Podcast

Though a few weeks late to the party, for those interested, check out the Sam Harris podcast https://www.samharris.org/.../the-best-kept-secret-in... where he talks with Brian Murareska, who researched and wrote a book about the psychedelic roots to the Greek mysteries and early Christianity, especially the four Gospels and the recently discovered Gospel of Thomas.