If Hollywood is where good writers go to die,
then New York is where they hopefully came
prior to that to live, work, and thrive.
I am writing this from the 43rd floor
of the Sheraton Times Square.
Of course that’s a lie they’re telling;
it’s not really in Times Square
(which is 6 blocks south of here)
but hey! That’s the beauty of advertising
(read: lying) in a society where lying is not illegal.
An essential quality any good writer must possess
is to be a good reader,
so as to know what has been said
in the Great Conversation
and thereby to be able to bring something meaningful
to the discourse,
OR to realize that it has been said better previously
and to then merely re-state those better previous words.
On the subject of New York
I reach way way back to 1980
to a writer whom “serious” writers may scoff at,
but who shares my passions for
drumming, birdwatching, traveling,
and the smoky whiff of a good peaty Scotch:
Neil Peart.
Neil (like Alex Van Halen and, dare I say, myself)
defies the stereotype of the dumb dull rock n’ roll drummer.
As the percussionist & lyricist for RUSH,
he has written some pretty darn good songs,
none of which move me more than “The Camera Eye”.
And so below I re-state Neil’s better previous words.
If you’ve not yet done so,
you must walk the streets of New York in the rain
while listening to “The Camera Eye” through a good pair of headphones.
It is magical.
“THE CAMERA EYE” (part one)
(vocal section starts at 3:30)
Grim-faced and forbidding, their
Faces closed tight an
Angular mass of New Yorkers!
Pacing in rhythm race the
On-coming night they
Chase through the streets of Manhattan!
Head first humanity,
Pause at a light, then
GO through the streets of the city!
They seem oblivious, to a
Soft spring rain, like an English rain
So light yet endless, from a—
Leaden sky………………………………yeah!
The buildings are lost! in the
Limitless rise
My feet catch the pulse and the
Purposeful stride
I feel the sense of possibilities
I see the wrench of hard realities
The focus is sharp in the city….