August 8th-15th

August 8th Another New York summer day. It's hard to sleep with the high humidity. I walked by the beach this morning after John went off to work. Crowds of people were arriving. There must be 100 or more BBQ tables and all were occupied. Some people bring large umbrellas, music players, tablecloths and plenty of food and drink and set up for the day. I returned and listened to `The Rhythm Review' and caught up on e mails. When John arrived home we wandered back down there and relaxed for a bit. Later we walked across the bay and bought ice cream.
August 9th Tonight we went to the Blue Note to see jazz guitarist Larry Carlton. I've enjoyed his music since his days with the Jazz Crusaders but had never seen him live. He didn't disappoint! He played a mixture of old and new tunes and the sopund was fantastic. His tone on the 335 is to die for! His trio ncluded his son Travis who is a killer on the electric bass and Gene Coyne, an equally talented young drummer. John, of course loves all good guitar players in any genre and also was suitably impressed! We sat next to a couple from Scotland who ended up buying a CD from John!




Afterwards we dropped into Terra Blues also in the Village, browsed in some record shops, and then had a bite at a Turkish deli , having missed out on dinner. We had a walk around Washington Square which looks beautiful at night and the fountains were attracting a lot of people.

August 10th Monday is John's day off and has become the day we do our shopping and also shop for Louise, John's mother, who is now housebound. Today was the hottest so far this year with the temperature in the 90's so it's no fun but after having lunch together we went to the supermarkets. By the time we got home and unpacked it was getting late but we still decided to hang out on the beach for a while. After a late dinner we watched `Mad money' with Queen Latifa, Dianne Keaton and Katie Holmes playing three women in difficult financial circumstances, who decide to rob one of the most secure banks in the world.
August 11th After John left for walk I went for a walk by the beach and for the first time heard crickets chirping. This is a sign that Autumn is approaching! They made quite a sound and I've discovered that the higher the temperature the higher they chirp and it's possible to gage the temperature by analysing the chirps! After an early dinner we managed a game of paddle ball tonight, our first for a while.


The nights are drawing in so our sunset walk by the bay is now ending in the dark! Later we watched some current affairs programmes. There were several town hall meetings tonight debating health care reform with President Obama in attendance. Obama wants all Americans to have coverage including the 47 million who are not insured but there is a lot of scaremongering by people like the now ex-Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin who called the plan `evil! I can't understand how giving people affordable coverage instead of facing financial ruin if they fall ill, can be evil! There are many vested interests at work here. The medical industrial complex is powerful. It's interesting to note that a large proportion of TV ads are for pharmaceuticals like Viagra and Lipitor. I suppose that people think they will have to pay more but don't realise that they are already paying through taxes for uninsured people treated in emergency rooms.
August 12th John wasn't feeling too good tonight so we took it easy. We watched a very cute movie `See Spot run' with David Arquette. He plays a Gordon, mailman who has a problem with dogs attacking him on his rounds. He likes a Stephanie who lives nearby with her young son.Meanwhile a bull mastiff FBI dog has gone missing, targeted for assassination by a crime boss. When Stepahnie leaves town Gordon looks after her son James and somehow they end up with the missing dog!
August 13th Tonight we went down to Manhattan and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant we like. We wandered around the Village and checked out some CD shops. Went to Terra Blues for a while. They are celebrating their 19th anniversary. The music didn't really appeal though so we didn't stay too long. The health care debate continues to dominate the news. Perhaps Obama will have to abandon the public option as people here are so anit-government involvement. The other big story was that guitar innovator Les Paul passed away at age 94. This was sad news. Les Paul invented the solid body electric guitar which bears his name as well as many recording techniques still used today. We saw him last year and he looked great for 93 as he was then. I wrote about it on last year's blog.
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August 14th Tonight we went down to Coney island to watch the fireworks. First we wandered round the funfair which is always interesting. They have freak shows there which I can remember in fairs I went to as a child but were banned in the UK and Australia as far as I know. Here you can still see the headless woman, the woman with the body of a snake, a cow with 2 heads etc! As usual there was a huge crowd. There were many boats lingering near the coastline and when the fireworks end they sound their horns in appreciation! There's always a great atmosphere. Tonight there were buskers and karaoke. We had an Italian ice cream but didn't hang around afterwards as John has work tomorrow. The big story in the news is how Bob Dylan nearly got arrested in Long Branch, New Jersey. He's on tour with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp. He left his hotel and got caught in a storm. He was looking for shelter and someone called to report a `weirdo' hanging around her house. When 24 year old cop Kristie Buble arrived to investigate, she didn't recognize Dylan, who was carrying no ID! He was escorted to the resort he was staying at and his identity was verified. A spokesman commented that this generation were not familiar with Dylan!


August 15th Today was so warm that all we could do was go to the beach after John finished work. It was really crowded again. We came home and watched a special pogramme about Woodstock. This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, held August 15th to 19th, 1969 in Bethel, New York located about miles SW of the actual village of Woodstock! John was there along with 500,000, others, mostly New Yorkers. He had been the previous year to the Woodstock Folk and Arts festival and had no idea that this festival would become so huge! His best memory was seeing Hendrix at 9am on the Monday morning (that's how behind schedule they were!). His act was the finale. That same year John's band Creedmore State was really taking off and the following year they were scheduled to play at the follow up festival at Powder Ridge but it was cancelled late in the day. The Powder Ridge Rock Festival was scheduled to be held July 30th -August 1st at Powder Ridge in Conneticut. A legal injunction forced the event to be cancelled, keeping the musicians away; but a crowd of 30,000 attendees arrived anyway, to find no food, no entertainment, no adequate plumbing, and at least seventy drug pushers! The festival was cancelled because of worry about safety issues. It's now the most famous festival that never was!