Old friends and old neighborhoods
Monday we do a nutty thing and spend a few hours at the Russian Baths on East 10th Street in Manhattan. I used to live next door to them from about 1988-1991 and despite being a Russian Studies /Language major at NYU, I never went in because it had a terrible reputation.
They’ve done some repair work and inside is a well run place that amazingly doesn’t smell like mildew. There are 4 or 5 saunas and steam rooms downstairs and a 40 degree ice bath. The Russian sauna used to be coal-fired and has been in operation for over a hundred years. It’s a pretty hip place today, with lots of good looking twenty-somethings taking a Monday afternoon at the baths.
I love the the wild temperatures and find it relaxing, but Trish calls it ‘Extreme Spa’. She nearly goes into convulsions in the ice bath. It must feel pretty fucking cold on a head with no hair.
Extreme sauna is no joke. Last month, a finalist DIED of BURNS at the Sauna World championship last month, which organizers say will never be held again.
We pay some guy with a thick gold chain named Gene for a 30 minute ‘Russian Sports massage’. He pulls on our appendages, steps on our backs and twists so hard that my eyes bulge out. Trish’s is done with no towels, totally nude, which adds to the ‘extreme’ nature of the massage.
Afterward Gene, negotiates for a higher tip than I want to pay and waits around at the cash register to make sure I pay it. Lol. Ah, well, I”m used to it. I spent enough time in Russia to know what to expect. I actually enjoyed this and I’m glad to see the old neighborhood.
Retro-photography
I get to see our friend Anthony’s newish studio (Green Rhino/Brooklyn Print Works) in the art capital of the East Coast, Bushwick, Brooklyn. It’s a huge space where he has a lot of room to perfect his craft of unusual antique processes of photographic prints.
The floors are lines with vats of chemicals, the tables are covered with color palate test strips and the walls with all the prints he’s making for photographers and artists. He talks like a mad scientist as he excitedly shows us the processes for Albumen, platinum and gum prints each of which creates an unusual finish to the photograph.
He also does these beautiful images of natural objects using scanners, two of which are in our house (above). Check them out.
The very first first mall
We leave the city early to skip the traffic and make decent time down to Philadelphia, site of Greenday’s opening US concert. The ride out of NYC is always a little sad for me. I would live there if I had my choice, but it’s one of those compromises I willingly make for my marraige and family. (And I do love our home in Wash-DC)
The car ride is so quiet without our girls. I wonder how they are, and know they are having fun. The concert is really close to the Cherry Hill Mall, which is the first indoor mall east of the Mississippi, dating back to 1961 (left). It’s a landmark of urban sprawl.
We take in a movie, “The Kids are Alright’ which is very well done.
Green Day
Green Day opens their American tour here tonight in Philadelphia and they seem to be glad to be home. I don’t know if they will do this every concert, but they played for two hours and 45 minutes, including an 8 song old-school set from their punk days.
The encore has ‘Jesus of Suburbia’ and ‘Wake me up when September ends’. My eyes water, maybe because I relate to the rage/love themes, maybe because I’ve been jumping for almost three hours, or maybe because those songs put me back to 2004/2005 when Trish had cancer the first time.
Either way we are both exhausted, Trish can barely stand up any more. Fucking epic performance.
101 surprises
Wow, we are getting closer and closer to the 101st surprise, which will be a doozy I promise! These five are probably obvious and there were at least 5 more that I could have written down. This was the biggest week of Cancerpalooza yet.
- 61) Green Day VIP: VIP doesn’t mean much in this case, these were merely good seats. But they put on an epic show, and we’re psyched to see them again in a few weeks.
- 62) Great Adventure NJ: The only thing I would do differently next time is splurge for the fast passes. The lines were long, hot and sweaty in this one. But the glee on the faces of young girls (and old) riding coasters is priceless.
- 63) American Idiot with the family: A good, but not great musical. We wouldn’t see it twice, but we wouldn’t have missed it either.
- 64) Le Bernadin/39 steps: Both perfected their craft, Le Bernadin’s seafood was exquisite. ’The 39 steps’ staging was excellent.
- 65) NYC by helicopter/boat/pedicab: New York is still an amazing town from any angle.
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The company was totally worth the lack of raw fish. And I fully support (and may campaign for) a Creekmore move to NYC…and not just for the cheap babysitting. Congratulations on making it through the last chemo treatment. Much Love.