World Trade Center # 7

So now there's the first fully functional rebuilt office tower at Ground Zero - World Trade Center number seven. There was a bit of triumphalism in the air, when Larry Silverstein cut the ribbon and Jeff Koons unveiled his exuberant "Balloon Flowers" sculpture. And since around Ground Zero every gesture's weight and meaning is automatically amplified a thousand fold, the gestures not made registered almost as much. Notably absent from the ceremony were all those politicos who just last fall had scrambled for podium time at the groundbreaking for the Calatrava terminal. Hillary and the mayor, the governor and even a minister from D.C. had talked in length about the grandiosity of rebuilding and how a strong New York means a strong America.

That was of course before they wrestled control over Ground Zero from Silverstein to prop themselves up as the can-do people in this swamp of inertia and paralysis. Sorry, as of today Mr. Silverstein is the first to come through with any promise down there on the ground. He was modest about it. Well, as modest as a billionaire with the air of an old-school New York City don can be. The building itself is triumph enough though. The David Childs designed monolith in mirrored glass towers over the gaping hole like a set piece from a Superman movie.

To get on good terms with the New Yorkers the much scolded Silverstein not only gave New York sculptures by Koons and Jenny Holzer, but also a lunchtime concert featuring seven New York City staples. Citizen Cope brought the appopriate despair. The Brazilian Girls stumbled through some shoddily looped tracks. Lou Reed sang 'Perfect Day' with such gravity that it sounded like it was his last, followed by a version of 'Sweet Jane' that he interspersed with cold cut tirades about McCain's infamous stump speeches at the graduation ceremonies at Columbia and New School. 'The same speech like at Liberty? Who does he think we are? Hillbillies?", he scoffed. "He'll never ever be elected by anybody with more than a 6th grade education." Reed was followed by enigmatic Suzanne Vega who dutifully sang 'Luca' and 'Tom's Diner' (she was a bit miffed about the rather lame audience participiation during the chorus, but hey, sorry, the 80s been over for a while now). Heartfelt highlight of the show was her brand new song 'New York Is A Woman':

New York City is a woman who's had a hard time,
but still is a heartbreaker.
She's every girl you've seen in every movie,
Every girl you've seen on late-nite TV,
In her steam and steel is the pain you feel,
New York is a woman who will make you cry,
Enter her and you're just another guy.

P.S.: Talking about symbolic triumphalism - one of the first tenants of World Trade Center Numver Seven is Chinese real estate tycoon Feng Lun who intends to use the top five floors for what he calls a business and cultural "China Center". Take that, old-school western economies!