New York November NYC Meet-UP

[Calzone]

We lucked out and had a beautiful mid October day at our last Meet-Up.

If we have a November Meet-Up we kinda need to have an indoor space as a hedge. Pretty much we need a space.

The Manhattan skyline has surely changed over the past two years. I take notice of a tall needle like tower in the 50’s that must be the MOMA tower. I also saw another one a little more downtown.

Cal

 

[pyeh]

I've been hanging out for you to start the November meetup thread, Cal. I hope Sunday 13 is still doable for people. That's the weekend I'll be in NY, but I arrive on the Friday before and leave on the Thursday after that weekend, if another day in that period is better. I hope I can see a lot of you guys.

 

[Calzone]

I've been hanging out for you to start the November meetup thread, Cal. I hope Sunday 13 is still doable for people. That's the weekend I'll be in NY, but I arrive on the Friday before and leave on the Thursday after that weekend, if another day in that period is better. I hope I can see a lot of you guys.

Pete,

The 13th it is.

What part of the city are you staying in?

We have to pick a location that is an indoor space as I suspect cooler weather will set in.

I think I will recycle the “small book” that is “human -sized” and not a “Monster.”

Pretty much it is boxed in an archival presentation case and pretty much is a good tease for my larger prints/books, but is still a bit crazy.

Always good to recycle.

If in Brooklyn I think I have a place that is very close to the Bark-LEE Center near downtown Brooklyn. It is convenient to Chris and Christian, but I have to find out if it survived Covid.

BTW it has been about two years since I moved out of the city and bought a house in the most northern and western part of Westchester. I will warn you that the city has changed a lot.

Cal

 

[pyeh]

Cal, I'll be staying Upper Eastside with friends who kindly offered to put me up, but I am confident about getting around to wherever you want to hold the meet. Brooklyn sounds fine to me. I want to check it out anyway. Peekskill will do me too!
So looking forward to my visit.

 

[Calzone]

Cal, I'll be staying Upper Eastside with friends who kindly offered to put me up, but I am confident about getting around to wherever you want to hold the meet. Brooklyn sounds fine to me. I want to check it out anyway. Peekskill will do me too!
So looking forward to my visit.

Pete,

We’ll have our Meet-Up, but we also mentioned doing an adventure and heading up the Hudson Valley.

I have a grandson and pretty much “Maggie” does daycare during the week. Don’t know if you might have another weekend day to venture into a different New York.

Maggie is a Nervous Nelly and likes me to be around. If Jean Marc would like o come or other’s it is cool, so you can have your on-tour-Rodge. I can fit 4 comfortably.

Let’s make the most of your stay.

How many years have we known each other? The world is not that big…

Also do your hosts know of some place to Meet-Up? At this point I am open.

Cal

 

[pyeh]

Cal, I don't think my hosts are the beer garden sort, pity. But I'll ask.
I'd love to see a bit of upstate but I don't have another weekend in NY. I leave on Thursday afternoon. It will have to be a weekday if it happens.
It was January 2016 when I met you at the Camera Beauty Pageant Rollapalooza at Puck Fair. Jean-Marc brought me along.

 

[Calzone]

Cal, I don't think my hosts are the beer garden sort, pity. But I'll ask.
I'd love to see a bit of upstate but I don't have another weekend in NY. I leave on Thursday afternoon. It will have to be a weekday if it happens.
It was January 2016 when I met you at the Camera Beauty Pageant Rollapalooza at Puck Fair. Jean-Marc brought me along.

Pete,

The grandson is only six weeks old. “Maggie” pretty much needs support. I take care of the caretaker.

Today I made pancakes for her before working on assembling a cedar shed kit. I feel like it was playing with Legos except on a grown up level. The kit says it takes two men about a weekend, but I’m doing it solo. Mighty clever putting up the walls alone today. The hard part is the first corner. LOL. I have a roof up, but I need to get tar paper and shingles.

Maggie likes the private location in the back-backyard that overlooks a forest and the frog marsh. I already know that when I unload the bar-B-Q and the outdoor furniture she will likely move in to have an outdoor office. The setting is very pretty. She likes that it is far from the house.

Oh-well. I thought I might have a cool space since I bought the shed.

Cal

 

[pyeh]

Grandparenting has eluded me so far, and seemingly there are no prospects on the horizon, not that I mind. However, I could come and cook both of you pancakes if you needed respite from respite care.

 

[Calzone]

Grandparenting has eluded me so far, and seemingly there are no prospects on the horizon, not that I mind. However, I could come and cook both of you pancakes if you needed respite from respite care.

Pete,

If you would like to take the train to Peekskill we could stay kinda local. The interesting thing is that even though I’m in the burbs, I’m still in a small city and there definitely is a Brooklyn vibe. This way “Maggie” who is a nervous Nellie will still be secure. You know us Cantonese, we like adventure, and we wander around a lot, and pretty much we are troublemakers. LOL.

Truth is pre Covid it pretty much was young people who brought fresh ideas and a lot of energy to NYC’s fast pace. Peekskill like places like Beacon, and Philly sometimes claims to be the 6th Borough.

There is a truly great Asian Fusion place nearby on the border of Croton that I favor, so I already know a place where we should eat.

I will take you across the Hudson to Bear Mountain, that has a roadway that was blasted into a mountain that the locals call “The Goat Trail.” Pretty much wilderness that connects to Bear Mountain Bridge which was likely the first and original “Bridge To Nowhere.” Bear Mountain and Harrison State Parks are tens of thousands of acres, but what is so dramatic is that wilderness is just about 10 minutes from my house, although Blue Mountain Preserve is about two to two and a half blocks from my Baby-Victorian.

Snarky Joe asked me how “Maggie” is doing in the suburbs. In the moment I did not fully respond, and the truth is that she gets a bit stir crazy and at times feels isolated, but understand that this is an anxious person that fed on constant stimulation and has over 758K followers and was a fashion blogger.

Part of the problem is Maggie’s struggle to be an artist, especially trying to become a writer. She does not really enjoy the solitude. Meanwhile I can create my own world or universe in narrowly focused areas like photography, biking, or music. I enjoy being left alone, but life is not so peaceful with Maggie. I hope she settles down.

She has a driver’s license, but is one of those people who should not drive. She acknowledges this, so I have the car and the job of driving her around.

I kinda have a work schedule, because the weekends she needs “stimulation” so we venture out and explore our surroundings. I’m totally cool with staying at home or being anti social. Anytime I need to socialize I pretty much can meet a stranger at any time, in fact strangers engage with me all the time. This is how I got the reputation of drawing out the crazies.

“Takes one to know one,” I say. LOL.

So if you like to have a micro-Meet-Up I’m cool with that. You can bring a small On-tour-Rodge if you like. The Audi A4 can seat 5.

It won’t be a crazy road trip, but it could be a very cool day trip. Know that in Jack Kerouac’s novel “On The Road” he starts his journey west, but somehow gets stuck in Peekskill. Peekskill is never mentioned in the book but the Bear Mountain Bridge was. In the story he basically had o return to NYC to begin his journey west in the beginning of the book.

Peekskill is pretty much the “Gateway” to the Hudson Highlands. West Point is across the river from Garrison. Below West Point on the west side of the river is Fort Montgomery. Lots of important military history here.

Also know that my UPS driver says he sees me walking around and biking all over the place. I’m sure I get seen by many because I have this tendency of wandering around…

Cal

 

[pyeh]

Cal, that's a great sounding, exciting itinerary, it's very kind of you. I think for sure Jean Marc will be in on it. I certainly am even if no one else is. We'll do it on a day that suits you best.

Let's see what sort of response there is for the November RFF Sunday meet and then plan around that. I still hope to see all of you.

BTW I am half-Cantonese, from my mother's side. According to my father, who was Hokkien and a very funny snob, Mum's family were from a particularly backward part of Canton and that he rescued Mum from her family by marrying her. Don't tell my Mum's family.

 

[Calzone]

Cal, that's a great sounding, exciting itinerary, it's very kind of you. I think for sure Jean Marc will be in on it. I certainly am even if no one else is. We'll do it on a day that suits you best.

Let's see what sort of response there is for the November RFF Sunday meet and then plan around that. I still hope to see all of you.

BTW I am half-Cantonese, from my mother's side. According to my father, who was Hokkien and a very funny snob, Mum's family were from a particularly backward part of Canton and that he rescued Mum from her family by marrying her. Don't tell my Mum's family.

Pete,

So you are Cantonese too.

I remember back in the early 70’s 95% of the Chinese in the U.S. were Cantonese. Of course that no longer is true.

Back about 20 years ago the biggest Asian ethnic group in NYC was actually fill-A-P-No. This again likely no longer is true.

When I moved into East Harlem about 12 years ago, East Harlem was the fastest growing Asian neighborhood, the reason was cheap housing.

My father’s family was merchant class (below peasant), but my mother was an educated woman from Hong Kong. Because my dad was in the U.S. Army during WWII, he was on of the 1428 Chinese allowed to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. This was during the time of The Chinese Exclusion Laws and basically my father was an illegal immigrant who jumped ship in New York Harbor.

I figure my mom came from an influential family because my mom was educated. I like to think I have bankster genes in me, and from my mom I got the good looks.

So I figure that not only am I inbreed Cantonese-Cantonese, or double Cantonese, or Cantonese Squared, but I am an extremely mix of high and low.

My grandfather was executed in China for killing the loan shark who burned down his business, so I am also the grandson of a murderer. Women seem to love bad boys.

In another post I mentioned how a criminal defense lawyer gave me his business card because perhaps he was profiling me as a possible future client. He said he was a very good criminal defense lawyer and one of the best. “I was just minding my own business,” I say.

I think I can go as far as West Point without “Maggie” going into withdrawal.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

So Snarky Joe says if we have a Meet-Up in Peekskill he would come.

EZ-PZ for me, but I still want to exploit Pete’s visit and show him a different part of New York, which is a separate event.

So I’m still open for a regular Meet-Up, or if only a few are coming to Peekskill then perhaps we can do some “Drive-By-Shooting” where we park and shoot. Last Meet-Up was was just Joe and Christian. I can fit 5 in my Audi.

There is this Antique Electric shop near the train station, but I’m not so sure it would be a good place to enter to shoot, but it is a interesting place to tour. All kinds of oddities… just a collection of crazy stuff.

At the Paramount they have shows on the weekends. I think Tracy Morgan is one venue, and a few weeks ago they had Stone Temple Pilots. This is in an Art Deco theater. I’ll check the schedule.

Please chime in so I know what you are thinking. This is our Meet-Up.

Cal

 

[pyeh]

I am definitely happy to have the RFF meet in Peekskill, but if in NYC anywhere in the 5 boroughs will suit me.

I have really only seen Manhattan from about the latitude of the Guggenheim southwards, plus The Cloisters back in 1982, although I think I can say I've explored those bits quite comprehensively for a visitor. I haven't even been to the Upper West Side, unless you count the Dakota Building. I've also dipped my toes into Brooklyn. There is much of NYC that I need to see, so make the meeting anywhere people feel like.

 

[Calzone]

I am definitely happy to have the RFF meet in Peekskill, but if in NYC anywhere in the 5 boroughs will suit me.

I have really only seen Manhattan from about the latitude of the Guggenheim southwards, plus The Cloisters back in 1982, although I think I can say I've explored those bits quite comprehensively for a visitor. I haven't even been to the Upper West Side, unless you count the Dakota Building. I've also dipped my toes into Brooklyn. There is much of NYC that I need to see, so make the meeting anywhere people feel like.

Pete,

The Metro North ride is a little longer than an hour from Grand Central. About a train an hour, so if you miss a train a long wait. The train ride is right along the Hudson River, so it is very scenic. Across the river are the cliffs that are part of New Jersey.

To me the towns below Tarrytown are just suburbs. The Tapan-Z Bridge crosses the river in Tarrytown and that is the route of the New York State Thruway. North of Tarrytown things change a lot, more spread out less developed, more sleepy…

In Ossining there is a prison AKA Sing-Sing. “Sent up the river,” back in the days meant prison.

Peekskill is a city of 25K and only occupies 4 square miles. It has a downtown, a DMV, a Social Security Office. The township of Cortlandt is a series of towns that are kinda like the suburbs of Peekskill.

Right across the Bear Mountain Bridge is a vast huge wilderness. Mucho big. Kinda crazy how close it is.

The Hudson River School of painting is pretty much the Hudson Highlands landscape, and Peekskill is the Gateway to the Hudson Highlands. In Peekskill the water is brackish, and there is a tide. You can catch Blue Claw crabs here, and big cow Striped Bass are caught chasing Herring as they spawn in the spring. Lots of natural beauty.

One thing is that in Peekskill because it is a city the houses are old, but when you leave Peekskill it drastically changes because in Cortlandt most of the houses are newer and are just the burbs.

BTW I don’t miss NYC.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

I got a free calendar from my local lumber yard that has been in business for over a hundred years. The pictures are like postcards that show off the Hudson Valley.

Anyways these are “infinity” shots that are not really my style being non urban landscape. I guess what I’m saying where is the grit, the filth, the litter? LOL.

Kinda funny are the headshots of the photographers. Pretty much you can form a profile…

Anyways I find this colander amusing, and I will bring it to the November Meet-Up.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Next weekend our agent will be coming from London and will be in NYC. She wants to have a meeting.

So I wonder if we have a gig or some gigs. Last time we had a meet-up I was told not to cut my hair.

Like in Project Runway I had to perform a “reveal” and take down my hair for Venessa, her personal assistant, and her office manager.

So I don’t know what is happening, but I think a makeover will be happening. Anyways I likely have to clean up my surfer look.

Hope you guys will recognize me. Anyways this is like going back in time when I was a performance artist…

Cal

 

[Calzone]

This weekend we have a Meet-Up with our agent. “Maggie” tried to evade going to NYC because she has to submit a manuscript by the end of October, and our plan is that I would go into NYC alone to attend the Meet-Up.

But now it seems Vanessa wants to come to Peekskill. Also she wants to bring a photographer.

Anyways things are evolving, and we only found out about meeting up two days ago.

I expect things could get crazy fast at this level. Been here before, but now I’m directly involved. Now I’m the “talent.”

I suspect that there are gigs. Our agent pretty much knows we need handling I guess.

I guess I’m expecting a surprise…

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Pete,

The 13th is coming up. Also we need to set a day up for a road trip.

The weather turned mild, and 70 degree temps are being forecast later in the week.

After ordering a Mitsubishi Mini-Split for primarily AC for the first floor of our Baby-Victorian in January now it is in stock somewhere in New Jersey after waiting for 11 months. We had the air handlers on hand and installed very early in the year.

In talking with Maggie, having AC with global warming, came up. Mild winters seem to be happening. Pretty much we are banking and planning for climate change.

Let’s wait a week and see what the weather looks like, unless you know a spot to have the Meet-Up.

Cal

 

[pyeh]

Cal, I know and I'm counting the days. If there's no takers for Sunday, although I really hope there are, let's just meet in Peekskill. It could be that Sunday or the Saturday before or Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday following. Shall we tee this up here or shall I PM you?

 

[Calzone]

Cal, I know and I'm counting the days. If there's no takers for Sunday, although I really hope there are, let's just meet in Peekskill. It could be that Sunday or the Saturday before or Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday following. Shall we tee this up here or shall I PM you?

Pete,

Whatever works for you.

I know Devil Christian is kinda busy, so he might not show. Pretty much the turnouts have been small. Know the Audi A4 can manage 5, and the only person who expressed an interest in coming to Peekskill was Snarky Joe.

Cal