"Hello Friends:
I have to admit that sometimes that New York gets me down. Not just New York per se, but what I perceive to be a shift throughout society towards a general lack of interest in culture. What is this banality, idiocy, insincerity, corporate sterility that we've come to accept as our day to day society? I feel like our vibrancy is being replaced by dullness and this worries me. What happened to the Bohemianism and Idealism that can drive a person to embrace Art and a life of dedication, practice and discipline? Smalls still embodies this for me. I can walk around late at night in the desolated confines of Greenwich Village, everything long shuttered and closed down, and then enter into our basement jazz world. Here, beneath 10th street, is a place filled with people who still love to interact with people, musicians who love simply to play music. People who still love to drink and talk to all hours. Philosophers and fools, Artists and madmen. Like one stalk of flower growing out of the asphalt of some paved parking lot - the Human Spirit still lives here. It's not easy to maintain but there are still some dedicated souls for whom the jazz life has meaning. Sometimes I stand at the foot of the stairs and observe the tumult that is taking place in my club and I say a silent prayer, thankful that this still exists and hope that these folks are protected. Hopeful that we can forget about Facebook, warfare and moneymaking and still remember what the Blues sounds like...."
I have to admit that sometimes that New York gets me down. Not just New York per se, but what I perceive to be a shift throughout society towards a general lack of interest in culture. What is this banality, idiocy, insincerity, corporate sterility that we've come to accept as our day to day society? I feel like our vibrancy is being replaced by dullness and this worries me. What happened to the Bohemianism and Idealism that can drive a person to embrace Art and a life of dedication, practice and discipline? Smalls still embodies this for me. I can walk around late at night in the desolated confines of Greenwich Village, everything long shuttered and closed down, and then enter into our basement jazz world. Here, beneath 10th street, is a place filled with people who still love to interact with people, musicians who love simply to play music. People who still love to drink and talk to all hours. Philosophers and fools, Artists and madmen. Like one stalk of flower growing out of the asphalt of some paved parking lot - the Human Spirit still lives here. It's not easy to maintain but there are still some dedicated souls for whom the jazz life has meaning. Sometimes I stand at the foot of the stairs and observe the tumult that is taking place in my club and I say a silent prayer, thankful that this still exists and hope that these folks are protected. Hopeful that we can forget about Facebook, warfare and moneymaking and still remember what the Blues sounds like...."
That usually means The Vanguard, Birdland, Dizzys, Iridium etc. Never feel more at home than down the Vanguard!
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