#1 on 9th

there’s nothing like a flu vaccine shortage to bring out new york’s weirdest.

a few weeks ago, when the shortage first hit the media, daphne and i got up one morning around 5 and caught a cab to 9th ave. she had been there the day before around 9 and they had already stopped giving shots.

at first we thought we had made a mistake; there was nobody there. but then we saw this tv news van parked in front of the dept of health building (we learned later that it’s from the today show), and a woman in crutches walking slowly towards the building entrance. we converged on the steps of the dept of health and nodded at each other, and were quickly joined by 3 or 4 more people.

the man right behind us wore big coke bottle glasses and what looked like either bad hair or a good wig. he had a suit on but you didn’t get the sense he’s going anywhere that would require a suit. he was chatty and immediately started to pepper us and the lady in crutches with questions/comments/free associations. daphne was being her friendly self and carried most of the conversation; the lady in crutches listened in but refused to answer his question about her hint of foreign accent; and i kind of drifted in and out of attention.

another guy arrived all geared up. warmly dressed and armed with one of those hide-a-chairs, he wasted no time spreading out, retreived a banana from a bulging backpack and started eating it with what appeared to my envious stomach as exaggerated relish. he’s number 6. when he asked how long people have been waiting, the guy behind us tilted his head at the lady in crutches and said what would be repeated many times that morning, “she was here first, and then it’s him and her and me.” “i’m number 4,” he would add emphatically.

the lady in crutches suddenly cheered up. “i’m number 1,” she said with a huge grin.

i started humming whodini’s “freaks come out at night” under my breath. daphne pretended she couldn’t hear me and continued chatting with the man behind us. but a knowing smile would flash cross her face everytime i repeated the tune; afterall, we’re part of it too.

“i’m number 1,” the lady in crutches said again, but louder.

new york’s diversity is a defining characteristic, and for many, its biggest attraction. the mix of people and culture is both mesmerizing and inspiring. for me, the proper appreciation of this blend is less about the homogenization of flavors (like the post-giuliani time square) than the way transition from one to the other is negotiated. like a good dj mix, it is usually most interesting on the fringe, where transient overlaps in culture - music, food and iconography - transform and enhance our understanding and appreciation for all.

new york club music reflects that vibe. always striving to be that ultimate piece of “functional” (i.e. get people dancing) music, ny club tracks are particularly adept in building cycles of tension and abandon, usually by modulating the different and at times competing impulses of beats and samples. this grew out of a creative culture where the desire to move a mixed crowd fed the inclusive sensibilities and instructive sets of many pioneering new york djs of the 70s and 80s, who in addition to the obvious larry levan of paradise garage fame – who’s been known to play van halen’s “jump” in the same set as the clash, pointer sisters and the nyc peech boys - included the likes of mark kamins at danceteria and red alert at the roxy.

unlike present day mash-ups, where matches are arranged seemingly with little regard for rhyme or reason, some local heros were clearly trying to bridge differences and connect dots. johnny dynell and new york 88’s “jam hot” (acme, 1983), for example, married latin rhythm hooks with a new wave-ish backbeat and kid creole-tinged ckeekiness and found believers as far a field as dj brian raffi’s modern rock night at the now defunct i-beam in san francisco. brooklyn dance/techno trailblazers frankie bones and tommy musto, meanwhile, drew from the dominatrix’s downtown cult hit, “dominatrix sleeps tonight” (streetwise, 1984), inner city/kevin saunderson’s detroit techno “big fun” (kms, 1988), and todd terry’s arthur russell meets sp1200 classic “bango/back to the beat” (fresh, 1988). and anyone who'd heard charlie casanova play at the palladium on east 14th after one of those club mtv tapings knows the power of milo’s “90,000 b.c.,” (raw, 1989) in moving club kids, boriqua posses from the boroughs, and loitering club mtv dancers alike.

Posted by cellpharmer at October 28, 2004 01:19 PM