New York's always been a city torn between nostalgia and frenzy, so any visit will be just like that. Took about half a minute to feel home again. And although Mr. Lou Reed and I might differ on the exact definition of a perfect day, those eight were sure right up there. It was nice and breezy days in Red Hook, Bluegrass sessions at Sunny's, soup dumplings at the New Green Bo, Pupusas and Huaraches at the ballfields (see who's volving down Pupusas in the video) and a burger at the Odeon. It was training with David, sparring with Charlie and seeing the Zab Judah/Miguel Cotto fight at a sports bar full of fans from Brownsville and Puerto Rico.
All crowned by a New Jersey sunset on Kara's Brooklyn roof, making the perfect background fro a jumbo shrimp barbeque and an argument about who was the greatest singer of all times. Rich bets on Ismael Rivera (Arsenio Rodriguez thought so too), I'll go with Hector Lavoe (J-Lo agrees, which admittedly ain't quite such a weighty argument). And if Lavoe's best song was "El Cantante" for it's epic range or "Periodico De Ayer" for it's bittersweet cynicism. We must've sounded like two old geezers sitting on a Brooklyn stoop arguing, if it was Sugar Ray Robinson or Muhammad Ali who was the greatest of all times and if Ali's most shining moment was against Liston or Foreman. And of course the dispute was never settled.
6/17/07
New York Nostalgia
4 comments:
First of all Muhammad Ali remains the greatest of all time. And second of all, what do you mean the dispute was never settled? Ismael Rivera could sing the socks off of Hector Lavoe. Not settled? I was under the impression that was most definitely settled.
It was great having you here, even if you are a little bit confused about which cantante was the greatest sonero.
I agree with you on Ali and we were on the same page with Oscar D'Leon being the current master sonero, but if you compare Lavoe's attack pitch with the admittedly smooth phrasings of Rivera there is no comparison.
Clearly you have been illegally downloading nearly enough Ismael Rivera albums...
Whoops. I mean: "clearly you HAVEN'T been...etc." Sorry to scatter all this trash around your comments section.
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