Oh, Brooklyn! With thy thunderous steamy shores, where the gulls squawk, and the taupe sands flourish into vaulted rock; where the downtown rises and looks on smugly at Manhattan’s Financial District because she could envelop that phallic island four times over, this grand borough that shares a line with Queens, that houses the city’s industry and ethnic enclaves, and the staccato accents rubbed with “ois” and “vuts,” “ayes” and “ehs.”
Last week at about four o’clock on Friday, biking home, I saw a garbage truck traffic jam on my corner, because I live across from a garbage truck garage, yes, and two quintessentially Brooklyn guys, big janitorial workers, six feet tall, well over two hundred pounds, were speaking to each other, their gloved hands fisted, their green overalls stained and smudged with a day’s worth of collective garbage juices. And what did the one say to the other? Well dear reader, this blue eyed man with a stubbly face, gray spiked hair, and eyebrows knotted in fury said, “I god shit to do! I wanna get the FUck outta here!” laying the emphasis on the first part of the word, the way any good swearer knows how to emphasize his meaning.
And I biked past before I could hear the other’s response, but I tell you my friends, after a long week at work, the passion in that man’s voice – his decided need to get the fuck home and sit on the couch with a Budweiser in hand while his wife cooked him dinner, the honest brutality of his words, and hard, clear cut handsomeness of his features – was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
After the Dec. 26th blizzard and yesterday’s Q ‘n’ A with Bloomberg’s top officials, the weather report isn’t just getting the city’s denizens worked up – the snow has political repercussions too. Bloomberg’s ready to prove that the city won’t be had again. But with 7-14 inches expected to fall, especially heavily over Long Island, folks are getting pretty worked up.
I’m suddenly taken back to Portland, Ore., where the slightest mention of snow gets people to buckle chains to their wheels in preparation for black ice and general entrapment. New Yorkers traditionally don’t care about snow. “Let it fall,” they’ll say. They drive through it bravely, almost recklessly.
But now, after last month’s blizzard debacle, people are getting worried, especially after last week’s letdown forecast seven inches left little more than a few flurries. City officials have warned that in severest weather, certain subway lines will not operate, (mostly in the Bronx and South Brooklyn, i.e. NBFRQ). This after a stuck A train left people stranded for hours in a subway car in east Queens.
In the meanwhile, all we can do is wait. Who knows, we may get a repeat of last week? Or we could all get snowed in in the morning, and enjoy a late start on our way to work. Only time will tell.
Take me to Baker Street, where the sax solo don’t end. Poor Gerry Rafferty died at the age of 63. Fairly young, though not by rock star standards.
This will be the decade for lots of great musical deaths. Here are my predictions for who will no longer be alive by 2020, and who will be most sorely missed.
1. Bob Dylan: He’s celebrating his 70th birthday this year, and it would be a miracle if he lived to age 80. When he does go, they’ll probably have a parade for him. I hope.
2. Mick Jagger: He looks like he’s a hundred and four, but he’s only 67. He’s been on his way out for twenty years.
3. Keith Richards: Old leatherface is right there with the above. I wonder what their brains look like.
4. Neil Young: He looks old and deathly, though he’s but 65. I’ll miss the Old Man, especially since I bet he dies when I’m 24 and there’s still so much more.
5. Lou Reed: At 68, and more conceited than ever, he can’t possibly last for more than ten years after all the H-train he’s ridden.
I thought about David Bowie, but he only looks better as he gets older, as well as Prince, who looks more and more androgynous as he ages, but neither are set to go yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if they lived till their 90s. Other contenders are Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney, but their health is surprisingly resilient. Did I forget anyone?
