New York City – Diplodopest.

Mac missed, a chapter closed

Despite all the planning, effort and lost sleep with came with my single-minded mission to meet Mac DeMarco in New York City this year, I’ve returned to Perth without having even come close to doing so.

Mac’s move and subsequent movements made the possibility of a meet-up improbable, and admittedly there was a point in planning where I subconsciously accepted this fate and turned my focus to other things.

Fortunately there’s no shortage of things to do and see over three weeks as a solo traveller in New York. I learned tonnes about the US, the world and myself from the experience.

For anyone reading or thinking of taking a trip of their own, and to close this chapter off, I’ve put together a list of my favourite things about New York City from my experience travelling there.

Records

A record started this whole ordeal, so it’s only fair that I gave significant time to exploring this realm of New York while I was in town.

New York’s second-hand record scene is packed full of early soul presses, limited new releases and basically anything you could imagine in between. I brought back around 25 LPs gathered from visits to stores across town and lovingly packed into a hard case before being checked in as luggage. They survived, and that’s the main thing.

For those interested, my perspective on this is below:

Best store for digging: A-One Records, East Village

A-One wasn’t the biggest or most visually appealing store I visited, but it was by far the best in terms of digging and very competitive on price. In this store I found a neat original press of Etta James’ first LP, a bunch of Marvin Gaye and my personal favourite – a sealed copy of The Adventures of Ali and his Gang vs Mr Tooth Decay. Commissioned by the American Dental Association in the 1970’s, this record follows the ‘fight of the century’ between Mohammad Ali, close ally Frank Sinatra and the rest of their gang against evil Mr Tooth Decay (seriously). A must have for every collection.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — **New York – a hunting ground for classics, bootlegs, limited editions and sealed copies of The Adventures of Mohammad Ali and His Gang vs. Mr Tooth Decay**

Best for new and limited releases: Turntable Lab, East Village

Turntable Lab killed it for soundtracks and special editions – Stranger Things on smoke coloured vinyl, Drive on fluorescent pink and Twin Peaks on coffee brown.

Best animals: Record Grouch, Williamsburg

Record Grouch was cool but the real highlight was the owner’s Chihuahua, who spent most of the time I was there jumping all over the records and trying to dig at them in his own right. What a champ.

Wildcard: The Thing, Williamsburg

The Thing was too hard for me, but if you knew exactly what you were looking at you could do some real damage down there. A floor to ceiling affair in a basement crammed full of records in no logical order, to go through every one would take three weeks of its own but everything there is US$3. The best thing I found was Shaq’s first album, but I left this one behind.

Accessibility

In three weeks I managed to see Jerry Seinfeld, Bruce Springsteen, Louis CK, Jon Stewart, Jim Gaffigan, Stephen Colbert, the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Rangers at work without too much effort at all.

I got caught up in everything from a Halloween parade to presidential protests, stumbled across part of the New York Marathon and snapped pictures with priceless artwork.

There always seems to be something happening in New York on any given night, and as a solo traveller with the time and freedom to make decisions at short notice it was really easy to make the most of these things. One night I caught a train to see 7000 jack-o-lanterns set up about an hour out of the city. I’d strongly recommend taking it this way for those considering a trip over there if that’s what you’re looking for in a trip.

3. Independence

Further to the point, I feel that spending time travelling on your own provides the clarity required to better understand the things you enjoy without distraction or external influence.

While Mac DeMarco provided a catalyst, it was sense of dissatisfaction with the way things were (as touched on in Roaches & Records) which really drove the decision to take this trip. The decision only affected me and wasn’t anything special to anybody else – people holiday all the time – but I have a better understanding now of the things I want to do with my time having had that break to assess and explore. I’ve come back with a lot of ideas and motivation, and I’m really excited to pursue these into 2017.

Bowie

I count Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou as one of my favourite films, and Seu Jorge’s Life Aquatic themed David Bowie tribute show at Town Hall was the best live gig I’ve ever seen.

seu-jorge-pterridactyl — I didn’t get a pic to do it justice so this one comes courtesy of @pterridactyl via the Seu Jorge Facebook page.

It has been 12 years since Life Aquatic was released but the tour is the first time Jorge – decked head to toe in costume from the film – has performed his acclaimed soundtrack of Portuguese Bowie covers.

I can’t really put it in words, except to say Jorge did full justice to the legacy of Bowie and his father recently passed. He was open, honest, funny and talented in equal measures and it was unlike any other show I’ve been to.

Perspective

Fair to say the election was the biggest thing (globally and in New York) while I was abroad, and I feel lucky to have been on had to see everything go down.

This blog has never been about spouting political ideologies and I don’t have much interest in changing that, but what was clear is that the American people are more divided than perhaps was thought in the lead up.

The result of the election caught a lot of New Yorkers off guard, resulting in protests in the street and quiet contemplation on the subway.

No one (not even Trump) really knows what will happen from here, but it will be fascinating to see.

Bonus. Support

Thanks to the people who reached out or got in touch during, before and after the trip to talk about it and the blog more generally – especially those I haven’t spoken to in a while or much at all. As I’ve continued to say, it’s been really encouraging to know that support exists.

I’m going to have a week or so off from it now but I have some short and longer term plans for content which I’ll explain as they come to be. But they are on their way.

Thanks for sharing this first journey with me.

Jack.

Entering the Upside Down

Three full days have passed since the announcement of the Trump presidency, and In New York the topic still very much dominates conversation in the context of the media and on the streets.

The rallies in New York are reportedly ongoing, and though I’ve not personally seen these going on what I saw on Wednesday that’s hardly surprising.

I decided since my last post took perspective from an anti-Trump rally to explore the other side of the discussion. With this in mind I ventured again to Trump Tower.

Trump Tower on late Friday afternoon was a very different experience to Trump Tower on Wednesday night. Parts of Fifth Avenue were blocked – not by protesters as they were two nights before but by barricades set in anticipation. The police presence was strong as you’d expect, and curious passers-by congregated across the street to snap a photo or two.

At this stage of the evening – around 5pm – there was no yelling, no protesting and if you had reason to you could enter the tower itself. In this spirit I was feeling a little run down. There’s a Starbucks in Trump Tower.

Once past security – understandably stringent given the circumstances – being in Trump Tower felt like entering the ‘Upside Down’ in Stranger Things.

The building is unlike any other I’ve visited – floor to ceiling decked out in tones of bronze, with an internal waterfall flowing from an alfresco garden down several levels to a pond on its lowest level.

Past a solid media contingent who looked as though they’d been there for days was Trump Bar, exactly as it sounds, and down a corridor from this was the makeshift Trump Store.

Trump Store was bustling– hats and T-shirts were walking out the door on the heads and backs of the president-elect’s supporters.

The mixed aged demographics probably shouldn’t have surprised me given the results of the election, but they did. There was plenty of younger people sporting Trump merch in the tower, along with some middle aged and older couples. Being Veteran’s Day it was easy to tell who of the building’s visitors had served, and clear that plenty had.

In that moment, and I can only speak for that moment, there was far less diversity in terms of race.

I talked to a couple visiting town for Veteran’s Day, who asked me to take their photo in front of the waterfall with their brand new Make America Great Again caps. I obliged, and asked how they were feeling post-election. They said it was one of the greatest things to have happened to the US. A passer-by nodded in agreement – few people there would have disagreed.

Aside from coffee and drinking there’s not that much else to do at Trump Tower, so in the hope Trump would emerge from an elevator and do a flip or something I went and stood by the media contingent for a while, and we watched as people came in and out.

A lady walked past with four immaculately dressed kids, including three small girls with matching velvet bows and dresses. They were having a discussion about how cute ten-year-old Barron Trump is. From what I could gather one of the kids wanted to marry Barron, but another wasn’t interested at all. Groundbreaking.

I wish I had more excitement to share, but this is the gist of the whole experience. Conversation was civil, polite and Trump-centric. People came in and out of the lifts with a smile. Three of the building’s four lifts were decked in reflective bronze and indulgent marble. The fourth was a service lift –sterile and silver with a Trump campaign poster tacked to its back wall.

I bought my coffee and returned to the dimension I knew.

The Hangover Pt. Trump

As they went about processing the shock results of last night’s election, the people of New York City woke to a blanket of thick, grey haze which absorbed the city skyline.

It’s seemed an apt shift from the blue skies of election day – where yesterday there was optimism of a Clinton victory, today there is cloudiness at the prospect of a Trump future.

For many in the US, the Trump future is the one they want. Pushing aside significant controversy, voters clearly engaged with the Republican’s rhetoric around a lost greatness, promises of a shift to greater control on borders and an anti-establishment movement. I saw a lot of people on social media ask if the people of the US learned anything from the Brexit – they clearly did, and they liked what they saw.

But for New York, a safe Democratic state, most signs suggested this was not a desired result.

I was at the Nets game in Brooklyn last night when the news started to trickle in that Clinton was in for more of a fight than earlier predicted. You could see attentions slowly turn away from the basketball as it went down.

Not even Ja Rule, who was in the crowd and they kept showing on the big screen for some reason, could bring people back to the game.

It was visible again today, in some of the eyes of those riding the subway, the quiet chatter of those looking for solace in the company of others and the occasional person verbalising their concerns to anyone willing to listen.

In the spirit of being a good journalist and a horrible tourist I did my best to seek out trouble and a story today where possible. Overwhelmingly though, it seemed remarkably similar to any other of the last few weeks.

The people

There was a lady at Myrtle-Wyckoff Station adamant that the decision to elect Trump would spark a civil war, but her views were largely ignored by a crowd which seemed more intent on quiet reflection than outward expression.

The destination was Trump Tower, where I figured there’d be someone doing something of note. Last night Lady Gaga was there in protest of the election result. Today it was surprisingly placid, though swarming with a significant police presence.

A small group of younger people gathered out front in protest of Trump’s views on sexuality, abortion and gender. One tried to go to work but had to leave at her perceived injustice of the situation – “I told my boss I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing,” she said.

On the other side of the fence were Trump’s fans. Those who turned out seemed to be of various groups – there was Blacks for Trump, Jews for Trump and Christians for Trump – but there didn’t seem to be one united assembly of Trump fans gathered.

Regardless, the word from this side was that the nation had been saved at the hands of the election result the previous evening. The mistrust of Clinton was clear, and the desire to be removed from an establishment politician dominated discussion.

One thing I’ve loved about watching the political debate on the street is the mutual respect New Yorkers have displayed for one another. The conversation can be heated, but not once have I seen it get personal or violent despite the size of the topics at play.

The politicians

In a nation of 319 million people stretched across 3.8 million miles of land I find it astounding that the presidential candidates could spend the evening just two blocks apart, but that’s exactly what happened.

While Trump was holed up in his namesake tower on the corner of 5^th Avenue and 56^th Street, Clinton spent her election night literally down the road at the Peninsula. They’re on the same street.

On the way to Trump Tower I noticed a crowd, and realised we were standing at the front of the Peninsula. Surely enough, within 10 minutes Hillary and Bill emerged and jumped straight into awaiting cars surrounded by a strong police presence. All things considered the crowd was pretty adoring of the Clintons as they left, and not long after she delivered a speech to fans nearby.

There was no sighting of Trump at the tower, but a large queue of garbage trucks filled with sand formed a barricade of their own on the street in front of the building. It was an unusual sight, but I suppose this is no orthodox politician.

The lesson learned

Every vote counts the same, and at the end of the day America democratically elected Donald J. Trump as its 45^th President. Say what you will about the candidate and the motivations – racial, gender, ideological – of the people making this decision, this is democracy at work and the freedom the United States prides itself on.

Will he follow through on his campaign promises? No one really knows. Once the fog clears I suppose we’ll have a better idea.

All photos by Jack McGinn. Please note that all views are opinion and guided only by personal experience as a traveller in New York City.

New York: Overwhelmingly not Perth

perthny

Wading through bustling crowds in the middle of Manhattan on my second day in New York, I couldn’t help but long for home.

Perhaps it was the 26 hours of flying? It might have been the sheer volume or the attitude of some of people, or even my initial misadventures of the train system (these continue and will probably do so until I come home), but the big city felt like it was going to swallow me whole and feed my remains to the subway rats.*

The first day, having set out to reach Manhattan Island, I inadvertently took a walking tour of the Bronx – lovely in its own right but the opposite direction to where I needed to be. I’ve since repeated this mistake, most recently at 2 in the morning after returning from a trip out of town to view several thousand pumpkins pretty late at night. I’ll elaborate on that experience another time.

Everybody is different, but I’ve found the key to enjoying New York (and I really am – go Cubs!) as a solo traveller to be accepting that you’re not going to fit and watching it all go by.

Below is a list of unexpected observations I’ve made from doing just that. See below.

NY vs brunch:

Honestly from what I’ve heard come out of the mouths of passers-by it feels like brunch is almost as contentious an issue for New Yorkers as the upcoming election. Signs at restaurants and corner stores around the city emphasise its presence and everything I’ve read online suggest it to be one of New York’s greatest assets. However, the word on the street states otherwise. I’ve overheard three conversations about brunch, all of which had negative undertones. One guy walking home from an ice hockey game was frustrated by brunch because it threw out the balance between breakfast and lunch. One young professional on the subway hated brunch food but liked the idea of being able to drink in the day (??).

“Fuck hollandaise,” she proclaimed loudly on the train. Her friends/colleagues/train peers concurred, and a half-baked apology to anyone who didn’t share her views within earshot seemed to fall on deaf, anti-brunch ears.

I’m going to go for brunch on the weekend and explore this phenomenon in more depth. Stay tuned.

Sport sport sport sport:

New Yorkers seem from the outside to have a really insular pride in what their city stands for and what it means to live in New York. Nowhere does this manifest itself more prominently than in the passionate support of sport fans living in the big city. It’s near impossible to board a train without coming across a Yankees hat, a Mets shirt or a Rangers beanie, and while I’m sure there are plenty (probably several million) people living in New York with no interest in sport, these people are understandably harder to spot.

I’m doing a Rangers game tomorrow and a Nets game on election day. Is Linsanity still a thing? Are some sports greater than others? I’ll probably gain some more insight into these pressing matters over the coming days.

Cultural diversity:

Maybe I was ignorant coming in, but from the outside New York comes across far more culturally diverse than I ever expected. Entire neighbourhoods, including the one I’m staying in, are essentially multi-lingual, and significant communities of people from all over the world have built lives for themselves in the Big Apple. It’s really impressive, and unlike anything I’ve really seen in any other major city I’ve visited. I don’t know how a wall would impact that but I can’t imagine it would help.

I’m enjoying New York from the outside, and despite a lack of real conversation I figure that’s where I’d like to stay. There’s so much more to write but this is already at 650+ words, so I’ll save it for the coming week. Thanks for reading.

*Rat City: I was keeping a tally of the amount of rats and squirrels I saw but then I went into the subway at night and couldn’t even count all of the rats. They’re physically huge as well. It’s comforting to know there’s plenty of support around should some adolescent turtles happen to find themselves exposed to chemicals and mutated.

On the other end of the spectrum I’ve seen three squirrels so far. Hoping Central Park will help balance the ledger slightly in the coming days.

Why tho.

As someone who asks questions of strangers for a living I’m a big fan of the word ‘why’. There’s a reason kids often drive their parents insane with it – overdo it at your peril but without any preface or bias it’s pretty much the most thought provoking thing you could ask another person.

Asking why invokes explanation, justification and sometimes deflection, but it’s a fantastic gauge of what someone is thinking and what their actions genuinely mean.

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked why I’m taking a trip overseas on a whim to try stalk a celebrity I’d probably have enough coin to pay for a flight to LA and back.

This week I’m going to answer some of the more commonly asked questions I’ve had since ‘going public’ with my plans. There’s only two, but they’re pretty much the ones everyone has anyway.

Why are you going overseas to stalk a celebrity?

This trip is so much more about the last few years of my life than it is about trying to find Mac DeMarco.

This thing keeps happening with my eye at work, where it gets this involuntary twitch if I spend too long at my desk. I think a few weeks away will help that calm down.

In actuality we all have our ups and downs, but having worked in three jobs and moved house six times since entering the full time workforce at the beginning of 2014, made and lost friends and colleagues, and just all of the other things that have happened I really feel a holiday is overdue.

Despite this, the motivation to actually get on a plane didn’t arise until I heard Mac’s ‘invite’ for the first time. Whether the meeting with the musician actually happens or not is irrelevant at this point, it’s the throwaway invitation which has inspired a trip across the globe, and one I’m incredibly grateful to have.

He moved. What are you gonna do now?

hotline-bling — Waitin for that email bling

Around a week ago I emailed Mac’s management and heard back almost instantly. He’s touring and writing at the time, but the message has been passed on to him for consideration and I guess that’s why I’m waking up at all hours of the night to check my emails. At least I hope it is. I’d hate to think my subscription to Hostelworld’s email newsletter is having that level of impact on my life (seems like it will still come in handy if ever in Budapest).

If we can hook something up for a meeting I’ll fly to LA during a window of the trip. If he’s not, well on a personal level I guess it doesn’t really matter – see above.

Yeah but why? You’re not even a massive fan.

This is the essence of the annoying kid overdoing it with the why thing. I’m going to New York for me, not for Mac DeMarco or for anyone else.

Surprisingly common blank stare

……..

Thanks for reading and to all who have subscribed – you the real MVPs. I’ll keep you posted on if I hear anything from Mac or his manager.

Roaches and records

roachy-1-diplodopest

Note: A lot of blogs I’ve read open with a cheery welcome post. Through no fault of its own this one doesn’t, but it picks up.

It was an unbearably warm Saturday evening spent alone in a roach infested two-bedroom flat in Perth’s southern suburbs. The apartment – my apartment – had helped me back on my feet, but a lot had changed during my time there and things felt really stale.

The recent changes – a relationship breakdown, a loss of interest in my only hobby and the cancellation of my plans for the evening – added up to feel heavier than the sum of their parts, and as such, things were pretty flat.

I was moving in a few weeks time and most my stuff was packed, but instead of making new plans that evening I sat among the roaches and the boxes and tried to keep the roaches out of the boxes and honestly felt really sorry for myself. It wasn’t a great night.

Pretty much the only thing I hadn’t packed was my record player, and having spontaneously picked up a copy earlier in the day that was when I first listened to Mac DeMarco’s Another One.

I like DeMarco’s work, but I’m no fanatic by any stretch. That said, there was a moment on Another One which particularly stood out. It wasn’t even a song. At the mini-LP’s conclusion the Canadian crooner, now residing in some weird part of New York, blurted out his address and invited the listener around for a cup of coffee.

Normally an invite to anyone who cared wouldn’t elicit a second thought, but in these circumstances it did. I’d never had any motivation to travel to New York before so I slept on the idea, but within a week I’d booked my flights to JFK – initially in September by accident but eventually in October like I’d intended. And so began a plan to travel several thousand miles from the world’s most isolated city to one of its most populous and drink a cup of coffee with a complete stranger.

I’ve read that people have made the trip before, but I’ve not heard of anyone going from Perth to do so. Provided he’s home I guess I’ll know for sure in a few months’ time.

Records

Accessibility

Bowie

Perspective

Why are you going overseas to stalk a celebrity?

He moved. What are you gonna do now?

Yeah but why? You’re not even a massive fan.

*Surprisingly common blank stare*

Surprisingly common blank stare