Today, 21 June 2013, is the longest day of the year for New York. It is celebrated by Make Music New York. There are 100d's of musical events around the city. They are all free. The hardest thing to do is to decide what to see. After spending 3 hours madly studying the form we have decided on four, yes only four, events to experience. Starting at Central Park, we were then to go to Cornelia Street, then to West 68 and finishing in Hells Kitchen.
7.30am saw us at Central Park Lake in Central Park to experience TILT Brass performing "Music for Wilderness Lake" Three groups of Trombone Players surrounded the lake and were led by a conductor using flag signals to lead the music. In the stillness of the morning it was magnificent.
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| The TILT Brass performing "Music for Wilderness Lake" |
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| The stillness of the morning reflects New York City on Central Park Lake. |
Our next point of interest was Cornelia Street, downtown. There was the world premiere of Jed Distler's Broken Record, a piece composed for 175 battery powered Yamaha keyboards and one acoustic grand piano. Players included luminaries of the piano world, local amateur pianists, school children and city officials. The performance set a new Guinness Book record for the world's largest keyboard ensemble.
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| A group of the 175 players |
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It's done, 175 players creating a new Guinness Book of Record
for the largest keyboard ensemble.
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During the course of our time there young players would come, play and sing. The amount of talent that's walking the streets waiting for somewhere to play is significant. Cornelia Street was their playground for the day.
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| This is Christopher McGinnis, a 15 year old school boy, who already has his own fan club. |
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A bike rider dropped in to play a couple of tunes and got the young lady in pink dancing.
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La Boite en Bois. our local and favourite French Restaurant on West 68 was the next stop. The Privia Piano Bar started in Harlem and at each stop from the back of a pick up truck Nate Buccieri plays live music on a keyboard to accompany singers on the side walk.
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Nate doing his thing.
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When the truck arrived at our stop we were fortunate enough the find the lady chairperson of the New York Chamber of Commerce on hand to belt out a few tunes. Her enormous jazz and gospel voice had the street rocking in no time. We could only imagine the board meetings of the NYC Chamber of Commerce being very upbeat.
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The Lady Chairperson.
Our initial plan was to head to Hell's Kitchen to experience more Jazz and Gospel singing. That was until we met Gino, the owner of La Boîte en Bois. Sitting on the steps of West 68 we got to know Gino, the Italian owner of a French restaurant. We learnt about, the restaurant, his life in New York and his four daughters, a doctor, two in finance and one in marketing. All still single. After a couple of Prosecco and French Chardonnay our trip to Hells Kitchen fell into disarray and we stayed on the steps and listened to the Greg Smith Group. From the Bronx, they played Hall & Oates meets Van Halen. There will be a visit to the Bronx to continue our new friendship. At 8.00pm we headed home via Ronda's for a quiet meal and reflection on the day. It was indeed the longest day for New York and its visitors. |
