If you read old guide books about New York, or even contemporary ones, our corner will inevitably not be mentioned. Guidebooks will skip from Columbus Circle or Lincoln Center right to Columbia University. Our corner of Broadway is skipped over as if there is nothing of any interest at all here. However, for the past few weeks there have been camera crews parked here night after night at 7:00.
Each evening the crowds grow larger.
Everyone is there to listen to Brian Stokes Mitchell end the 7:00 pm cheer with his glorious rendition of "The Impossible Dream".
Night after night we gather to listen to our neighbor.
Night after night the crowd grows.
Last night, after listening to the performance as we do every night, I remembered a story my mother used to tell us about our great grandfather Zalman Paysach.
He lived in a little village called Frampol that was outside of Kamanetz-Podolsk, in what is now Western Ukraine. He had, like many of us in the family, a lovely high voice. Zalman Paysach used to sing in his sleep. There wasn't all that much nightlife in Frampol so people would gather beneath Zalman Paysach's window to listen to him sing every night as he slept.
As I passed this photo of Zalman Paysach after listening to Brian Stokes Mitchell I realized that after weeks of being on lock-down, our neighborhood has been transformed into Frampol.
Frampol on the UWS ? Be careful what you wish for, surely don't want the corner of 98th & Broadway covered by the infamous Frampol Spring season "Blotte".
ReplyDeleteIs the average NYC pedestrian vigilant regarding the CDC's defining social distancing as 6 feet of space between two people. You photos of folks listening to Brian Stokes Mitchell ( plus the 3rd photo down) showing pedestrians and listeners all much closer together than 6 feet apart, which is scary from a disease containment p.o.v.
Brian Stokes Mitchell does have a remarkable voice and presence. You're lucky to hear him from your window and social distance at the same time. Any other performers sharing talents in the UWS or any other parts of the city ?
The only blotte would be on the median strip. I'm hoping that the people who are close together are family members. I'm socially distancing from my perch on the 6th floor. People are wearing masks or other face coverings. So hopefully that will help folks stay healthy.
DeleteAs for other communal song events apparently in other neighborhoods there has been communal singing of songs like, New York,New York and Stand by Me.
Hope that you are staying healthy.