New York New York

Arrived in New York on a chilly, rainy afternoon…and to the Pod Hotel – and yep, the room was fractionally larger than a pod but not much – just enough room for a bed, some hanging space and a bathroom like you find on a plane. But..it is New York and space is at a premium. In fact, it was a pretty cool hotel – decorations were great and everything very new – and you could go up on the roof (a song title there!) – the 14th floor – and get quite a good view of skyscrapers, especially at night. The hotel was in a good position and could walk to a lot of things – though the metro is great. The next day a healthy breakfast for a change – a million choices of food here of course…then met up with L from Wagga – she was also here in NY so we spent the day together. Off to the 9/11 site and Memorial – lots of work going on there and not really clear to me what is being done. Passed the Rockefeller Center – ice skating finished for the year. In fact is springtime and the Big Apple looking nice with lots of bulbs and blossom – surprisingly pretty. Then shopping – of course – at Century 21 – it is reasonable here and so much choice…also went to Macys and got some shirts – they do different sleeve lengths here – so could actually get some that fitted OK…and of course, the assistant I asked about this turned out to be an Australian…a strangely small world! Later to the Paley Center and their television archive – a good visit – in my report..

In the evening a great dinner at a Thai restaurant – really special – and after the South, again smacked of healthiness! The next day, the New York Public Library - terrific – and walked down to Times Square – not that great in day time but interesting! Back and had to move hotels – the Pod couldn’t accommodate me over the weekend. So taxi to the Bedford, close by (and very close to Union Station which is another magnificent ediface). This was much more upmarket (and surprise, surprise, much more expensive!). But was very comfortable – and much bigger – even had a fridge and stove – unheard of here (not that I used them much). Actually had a bath and a bit of a rest. In evening went back to Times Sq and Broadway and saw a brilliant production of Macbeth (set in a sort of 1950s fascist state – a bit like the cinema version of Richard III a few years ago). Was terrific and Patrick Stewart (Star Trek, X Men) played Macbeth. A great evening – and out into Broadway at about 11.15pm and it was packed – a zillion people around – very colourful and a good feel.

Saturday – and a bit rainy and cool again. Walked down past the Empire State Building – not as impressive as I’d expected – and line too long to wait to go up it. Down to the flatiron building – that looks good and a nearby a little park – all blossom and fresh green and heaps of people walking dogs. Back to hotel and met up with E from Philly. Weather had cheered up so we headed off to Central Park and Strawberry Fields and the Dakota Building…the Strawberry Fields Memorial a bit ordinary – I’m sure they could have done better than that – couldn’t Yoko have come up with a few zillion bucks to create something impressive?? Looks like a bit of mosaic work that cost about $72…a bit sad…though lots of people around. Walked around park – is lovely – then to the Met – one of the world’s great museums…a brilliant collection of classical art as well as heaps of other stuff. Not enough time to see everything…though up onto the roof and a lovely view of the Park and Manhatten skyline. Walked back to hotel down Fifth Avenue and all those shops…though surprisingly, didn’t actually buy anything!

In evening we met a friend of Es at Union Station and subway to the Bowery and a trendy bar for dinner followed by music at The Bowery Ballroom…a great venue. Enough people but not packed and some great music. Headline act Jesse Malin – a local lad – (http://www.jessemalin.com/ don’t be put off by the soulful photo!) who did two long sets – one sort of singer/songwriter then second with his band. In the end I was knackered by about 1.00am and had to bow out…we headed off shortly after – the band still going strong – into a really cold night.

And that was NY – everything you expect – busy, hectic, millions of restaurants, pubs, fast food on the corners etc etc… but also surprisingly (I thought) attractive – some great architecture, even the tacky areas look like they are on the up…a place to come back to!

Nashville - it wasn't God made honky tonk angels

The drive to Nashville took about four hours – with a stop at the Loretta Lynn café for lunch! With the GPS all is plain sailing so straight to the motel near Opryland. Then down into town and a Club recommended by all – the Tootsie Lounge! Pink and noisy – but two great bands – a hard rockin’ country bunch and…another hard rockin’ country bunch. Both great! No cover charge – just whatever you want to tip..and they were really professional. Off to a Mexican for dinner then passed a gospel band at full pelt (after all it was Sunday) in another club – music is everywhere. In fact Nashville seems to be a city of churches – great big imposing ones are everywhere… But it is also the city of friendly people, beautiful houses and lush verdant countryside – absolutely beautiful in palces – and the music scene is awesome. Everything from yee-ha classic hillbilly to hared rock, blues – you name it, it seems to be available every night of the week. Big names (Elvis Costello, BB King here this week) and a host of lesser lights. The next day was the Frist Art Gallery – an amazing art deco building – then a trip into the country to a couple of pre-civil war mansions and the Loveless café – just great! I spent the afternoon at Vanderbilt University and their TV news archive…(in my report!). In evening off to the Bluebird Café (http://www.bluebirdcafe.com/ ) for two more acts, the Mike Henderson band (a brilliant blues band) and Dennis Lambert, songwriter (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=155217020 ) – no, I didn’t know him either but when he started – wow, we were all spell bound. What a city….
On the last day in this jewel of the south, to the Country Music Hall of Fame – an exceptional museum/archive – could have spent all day there – tells the story really well..and what’s more – the first place I’ve ever got into at a reduced rate – cheaper for the over 55s!! Then to the Parthenon (“ours ain’t broke” to quote a local) – it’s great – really! http://www.nashville.gov/parthenon/

Walking with the King

A day of traveling - LA to Memphis (going by el cheapo airlines) takes a while. Also no food on offer at all - have to remember this - take your own. And Memphis has a two hour time difference so arrived around midnight. Cab to hotel and is OK - very near Graceland - you can feel the vibe - everything is Elvis - two TV stations with nothing but Elvis movies and related. Weather strangely crap though for the south - cold, and rainy.Had to get up early and cab to airport to meet E (Vic's friend) and then pick up hire car. E arrived OK (which was lucky as had no contact details!) and we picked up the hire car with (blessing, oh blessing, a GPS system). The GPS cost about $12/day but was worth every bit - it's a miracle...makes life so incredibly easier...leaves you to concentrate on driving on the wrong side of the road.Into Memphis, a walk down Beale Street and some great conversation in the record shops - they really know their stuff. Is very touristy but needless to say managed to buy some stuff - also got a parking fine - I took a risk and it didn't pay off. But cheap here - only $27!! (US of course). Lunch - catfish which is fine - then the big one...the platinum tour of Graceland - magic - took all afternoon - funny, moving, increased my respect for the king - just great - a legend.In evening back into central Memphis and dinner at BB Kings Blues Club - food ordinary but the two bands just great - pretty crowded but the music - fantastic - blues, motown, R&B...what more could you ask for!The next day Sun Studios - see the pic - I'm standing on the exact spot that Elvis cut "It's alright Mama" then to the Rock'n'Soul Museum - where else??! And wandered through this big markets celebrating Africans in April - heaps of stuff going on and tons of really 'bad for you' food - if its deep fried, it's there - and vegetables...what are they?? A relaxing afternoon on the Mississippi doing a river boat cruise - weather better today. Finally drinks and dinner at the Peabody, Memphis' no. 1 hotel - very nice indeed.Left Memphis Sunday morn, driving to Nashville - good memories - a nice place.

Archiving and observations on LA

A full day of work. First to UCLA and the TV archive side - won't bore you with the details - it'll be in my report! Then to the Paley Media Center - brilliant - 140,000 TV and radio titles available for public access withing five minutes. $10 for twop hours - great stuff and it'll all be digitised by next year. Paid my ten bucks and watch an episode of Rawhide from 1958 - Clint Eastwood very young! And it was actually good..held up well. Then a bit of an English rock program, Old Grey Whistle Test (they have everything!) from 1972 - David Bowie at his most exotic - and let's be honest - most beautiful...thoroughly enjoyable.

Now, more general thoughts.....
Drivers - and people generally very polite.
Even the street people - of which a large number - one introduced himself to me this evening - a good looking black guy - with "Excuse me Sir, as you have probably guessed I am a residentially challenged person, but I can be very engaging - can I sing for you?" ! We had quite a chat (I asked him not to sing!) and gave him a buck - weird!
Had lunch in traditional burger joint - sat at the counter - and yep, a bloke sits beside me and we have quite a natter - turns out he was a lawyer - typical!
Super cheap junk food everywhere.
Coffee crap.
This bsuiness of adding the tax to everything drives you mad - and fills your pockets with useless coins.
Complete lack of any civic pride - no obvious town planning - crap and mansions intertwine, rubbish everywhere, boarded up places, locks and chains and lots of evidence of police - disturbing.
The number of police, security guys on the metro platforms - about four on each.
Hardly any white people under 50 using the metro and if you ask any middle class white person about it they have no idea.
I ahve to show id (yes, really) to buy a can of beer in the supermarket - apparently it's the law (not my youthful appearance!)
TV News as everyone says - absolutely nothing outside of US
Weird and complicated street rules - no parking between midnight and 6.00am without permit; no parking Tuesday 10.00-1.00pm (garbage); no smoking inside a vehicle when a minor is with you (love that!)

That'll do for now..... be greetings from Memphis soon...

Old TV and brand new museums

I am typing this watching Get Smart – that’s the standard of TV available – though I have to admit 99 looked pretty good (and Maxwell Smart looks very much like George Bush – hmm, and sounds like him too!). This has just finished and now followed by a b/w episode of the Twilight Zone…Gawd, a trip back to my youth. Might be time to change channels. And I did – and got Seinfeld….!

Another late start – am sleeping well – and a much cooler day. Went to the new (well, its 10 yrs old now but looked awfully new) Getty Center http://www.getty.edu/ . Trouble is getting there by public transport looked a nightmare – I ended up using taxis – a hundred bucks worth of them! But it was worth it. The museum and its grounds are brilliant – this was purely a pleasure trip – no meetings. It is just magnificent – shows what you can do if you are a billionaire with good taste! Even the modern architecture I thought was inspiring - it all sort of worked together – landscape and structure. In the evening did the whole make over thing – an hour in the gym, into the sauna, the spa then an hour of Shiatsu massage – all very serious stuff and sadly, the hands on bit was done by a bloke. I made the mistake of saying my shoulder was a bit sore…if it wasn’t before it sure will be tomorrow.. he certainly enjoyed his work this little guy! Strangely enough though I actually fell asleep for a minute or two in the middle of it which I wouldn’t have thought possible. Staggered back and spent the rest of the evening sorting out accommodation in New York..I sort off left it to the last minute (Wotif usually works OK) and found it a bit challenging – finally sorted, but not easy.

The bosky fields of San Marino

Not a bad night considering – hotel is quiet which is great – hope it stays that way. Took me a fair while to get organised – something about out of your normal environment/routine – there is a real tendency to fiddle around – and there are a lot of crap TV stations to surf. Wandered off to tackle LA public transport – pretty rudimentary but very cheap. Trouble is it doesn’t really seem to go where you want to go. So the new metro (train) line heads out north and east – but not west (apparently that’s coming). And the eastern line, which I wanted, appears to meander nowhere in particular. Thus I had a half hour walk from the station (which was in the middle of nowhere) to get to one of the major tourist attractions and academic institutions in LA…weird. But was through a beautiful neighbourhood – all immaculate gardens (lots of Hispanic gardeners out in force) – and great mix of architectures and palm trees…just like on TV. The fact that everyone had signs in their front gardens announcing they were protected by XYZ Security who delivered ‘armed response’ took a bit of the gloss off. I hardly saw anyone other than gardeners so no problem and the Huntington lived up to its reputation (check out the website http://www.huntington.org/ ). The gardens were fantastic and the library brilliant (Guttenberg bible, Shakespeare first folio etc) – and they were filming a movie there (apparently to be called Seven Pounds) so if visitors didn’t want to maybe appear in it they couldn’t go past a certain point … needless to say I’m hanging out to see if I made the crowd scene! Then met with their Conservation staff – main focus is rare books and paper cons but also digitization for access. Just interesting to see how they manage with such a unique and valuable collection. Took all day and not back till 5 ish, fairly worn from a lot of walking. Had dinner at a local Japanese, very good but like every other meal here they give you way too much… which made me think re fat people and Americans…can’t say I’ve noticed especially more than anywhere else…is it just something we like to believe??

Go west young man...

Sunday morning – and it rained – what’s with this Canberra weather? The first rain for ages – and it was a little inconvenient…and maybe, it was all related to the fact I washed the car on Saturday – hmmm. Cheered up though and trip to Sydney was good – plane half empty and bang on time. Met T for coffee at the International Terminal and that was good too. But, it couldn’t last… The rain/storm closed in on Mascot and nothing was leaving (apparently not so much ‘cause of problems re planes but because the baggage handlers don’t like to get wet…and while I gave some sympathy for them I wasn’t that happy on Sunday!). Finally got off an hour late.. and take a hint from me… don’t fly United if you can avoid it – the slightly cheaper fare did not make up for:
· You can’t book exit aisle seats when checking in – they flog them off earlier at a higher rate;
· They advertise (and I have a copy!) “Leg Roomier” – it’s a blatant lie. I am sure there economy seats are smaller even than Qantas and that’s saying something. I could not get my legs in from the aisle and the plane was 100% full;
· The plane was c 1980 I reckon – still had just the centre movie screens (which you can’t see if you sit on sides) and just played two features – they have to be G rated because everyone can see them. So we got an Alvin and The Chipmunks (I kid you not), then an edited version of the Golden Compass followed by the Disney Channel endlessly and
· The food was the possibly the worst I’ve ever had on an airline. The main meal – beef and rice – OK but stone cold. Was told some of the heating things weren’t working properly – no offer to heat it up!
· Also asked about a blanket as I seemed to have missed out (and it was cold) and again, the hostie more or less shrugged and said they must have missed it when fixing up the cabin in Sydney and disappeared never to return.
· Oh, and yes, the staff are all 50+ and look like they have to pay themselves to clean their uniforms - as no one seemed to have done it..or they are really messy!

On the good side, I experienced very early on American politeness that made all the difference to the trip. So after the blanket conversation a nearby passenger (a big guy!) passed over his plastic wrapped blanket – I won’t be needing it he said. Then, and this was the big one, and elderly couple sitting up against the bulkhead in front of me (where the film gets screened so you can’t really watch it when sitting there) – the old lady suggested we swap seats as she was little and there is quite a bit of extra leg room in the bulkhead seat. Which we did and it made such a difference. Put me in a very positive light despite the UA experience.

After that trip was tedious (13 hours) but bearable..except for the food which just got worse. And come to think of it was also surprisingly bumpy which, for those who know me well, caused me some perturbation. Get to LA with two other jumbos and we could hardly get into the Immigration Hall which, with the proud number of 35 counters (trust me I had a lot of time looking at them) had five officers dedicated to non-US citizens. And they take your fingerprints and retina scans of everyone – so it takes heaps of time. It took at least 90 mins shuffling through the queue – pretty bad when your body thinks you should be fast asleep. Finally through and many to get through Customs OK – not everyone did, that’s for sure! Staggered off to the mini-buses and off to my hotel which is pretty good. The Miyako – Japanese surprisingly! In Little Tokyo, downtown LA. Seems good – nice big room, usual stuff – even a bidet for washing those intimate bits! (You can even set the temp of the water…could be fun!!). By the time I got there, 2.30pm, body was awake again so went out and had a wander around and ended up at the Geffen Contemporary – a branch of the Museum of Contemporary Art – and a gallery opening and tour by the artist (I’d never heard of but lots of books on him – Laurence Weiner…). I quite liked his work – uses words as art a lot – but the opening and blah blah went on and on so I disappeared as it looked like we were never going to get to the canapés! One gallery comprised lots of sets made from rubbish but really interesting – unfortunately was told no photos – a shame.

BTW very hot here – 95 Fahrenheit (about 35 c I think)..it’s great to see Fahrenheit again – they don’t even give you Celsius as the second option…apparently going to get cooler as week progresses (I have found the weather channel on the TV!). Wandered to the main railway station (Union) – the last great terminus built in the US (1930s) – it’s incredible – fab Spanish/Art Noveau/Walter Burley Griffin type design – enormous, spotless and more like a museum than a railway station. But when I asked if there was a pamphlet or even a book about it I was greeted with blank surprise – very polite “I am sorry Sir, I do not believe there is such a thing, though there is a panel on the wall over there which I can show you” and off we toddle. Strange…..when generally, Americans are very conscious of their heritage. Across the road is reputedly the remains of the Spanish Pueblo which is where LA started..however now completely commercialized a really just 50 market stalls and cafes selling Mexican stuff. Quite nice, and there were cariarchi(sp?) bands etc. Won’t tell you what I had for dinner – an odd mix of take-away and a lot of Japanese beer (Sapporo Reserve – good stuff) – I still am rather dehydrated from the flight and..I know, I know, but I find it hard to believe beer takes out more than you put in! OK, hopefully, a good night’s sleep and off to the Huntington Library tomorrow.

Getting organised

Well trying to anyway. After months of talking about it suddenly I'm off this Sunday - be glad to just get onto the plane, sit down (in my cramped, economy class seat - not that I'm really complaining!) and chill out. Whatever isn't organised - too late...have a couple of good books (hopefully) - Tom Wolfe's Charlotte Simmons which should be good...what a great author, and then Melvyn Bragg - one of his medieval things - Credo - which I got at the Salvos for the princely sum of $1, can't be bad..I'll leave that on a plane somewhere for another fortunate soul! I think some poetry too - a good opportunity to put quality time into reading it.... and of course the mp3 player...And I suppose some more serious reading....including refereeing some stuff and a couple of heavy duty papers. In between will fit in a movie and hopefully snooze a bit - lucky it is a long way to LA!
OK, packing tomorrow and last minute stuff - how come I can never find those multiple adapter plug thingos I buy every time I go overseas then lose somewhere - oh for a world wide standard - a good example of the usefulness of international standards. For my first post, that'll do - though sudden thought, on things literary, if you want a serious, thought provoking read that you'll need to re-read a few times to get the idea..and even then!...plus a dictionary...then check out American Vertigo by French sociologist Bernard Henri-Levy - his use of (English) language is great and he has a lot of provoking ideas re American society today - so I am all primed to descend into it!