HOT CHILD IN THE CITY

summer deux
Originally uploaded by R.bean.

Have I mentioned how scorching hot it has been here? It's "strip off your clothes the second you walk in" hot! The hot smog filled humid air mixed with sweat and the general city filth fills me with a greater desire than normal to take long cool showers. So let me give you a break down of what I've been doing when not organizing...
*CENTRAL LAUGH We met up Jigga and Dre for a free show in Central Park. Who's on stage? The Upright Citizens Brigade - an improv troupe sprinkled with some quite popular SNL folk. It was fairly hilarious. We ended the evening with a stop at a bar that had amazingly tall urinals that were raved about and proved a must see.
*BEDSTUY BBQ BLOCK PARTY Around this small hood in brooklyn Lloyd and his wife Hillary are local celebrities. They've done worlds in initiating community betterment projects which have paid off with multiple years of having their street named "Greenest Street In NYC". They are imfamous owners of Bread Stuy, the trendy bakery cafe that serves as a neighborhood hangout. Our invite came way of my cousin being the designer for the cafe. So when a legend like Lloyd celebrates his 35th birthday it quickly escalates into block party proportions. Especially when there's buzz that one of Hillary's magnificent cakes will be present (with passion fruit filling). The street is blocked off and children ride their bikes while young men toss the football across the block. The open and friendly gathering has Lloyd's brand all over it. Ting for all.
*KARAOKE KINGDOM The participating audience consisted of Jigga, Nicole, Ez, Ray, Theo, and Me. My cousin's jam: Oh So Quiet by Bjork (Go figure). Fairly amusing moment when my cousin-in-law Ez dedicated to me his performance of Only the Good Die Young. My jam was probably Holding Out For A Hero. I thought it was a suitable comeback. I rocked so many songs but my other favorite that I am adding to my set list is La Isla Bonita and You Can Call Me Al. And I was really digging the whole private room setup. It is so much more condusive to new song experimentation without the whole "being on stage in front of a room full of strangers" experience. I would love to find a private room set up back home. It's a must repeat soon experience.
*QUAKER QUIET Across from the park is a Quaker church that I popped into to see how these "Friends" (as they call themselves) do worship... An hour of silence spent dwelling in the presence of the Lord seeking the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the hour just 3 gentlemen stood and spoke short spirit led messages. One is a vision that I didn't necessarily follow. But the others had to do with comfort... how we follow a God of comfort, but not all comforts that we cling to are from God and that some of these false comforts keep us from seeing dangers in our lives. The other comfort message focused on comfort versus challenge and how sometimes you get challenge when you are seeking comfort or vis versa. Both seemed like pertinent messages that were beneficial for me to hear. Then when the silence was over their congregation tried something new. For the first time they had a time at the end where they could tell the rest of their "friends" about anything good or bad going on in their life... basically prayer requests and praise reports. Their congregation so strongly embraced this new opportunity to speak openly for the first time without the pressure of it having to be spirit led to do so. They spoke of concern over the London bombings, and shared of deaths they are mourning, and thankfulness over a variety of things. To me it proved that this time was something they certainly were craving, and when you crave like that it is a sign of an area of lacking. I am not at all against waiting on the Lord. A friend once told me that if prayer is talking to God, then meditation is like listening to God. There are so many ways to worship and not everybody worhips in the same style so I think a congregation that limits their methods of worship isolates alot of believers. But it was interesting.
*WHITNEY WONDERS Finally made it out to the museums. The Whitney was great. They had this great exhibits with mirrors and piles of shells and rocks that I thought was great. And they had this collection of hellicopter paintings that were fascinating. But of course, my favorite part was the gift shop where I picked up an awesome glasses case and an origami wishing star kit. I've got the stars mastered and have sub out origami paper for strips of magazine paper. Art=Inspiration. Ok... later.