New York Notes on Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"

Rattle off a list of Bob Dylan lyrics that contain climate metaphors or analogies to the weather - "Blowin' in the Wind," "Rainy Day Women," "Shelter From the Storm," "Thunder On the Mountain," "Buckets of Rain" - it's easy, you see? and somewhere near the top, "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," comes to mind. And then you'll sing, preferably imitating the voice, "And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard … It's a hard (hold the note long, in the nose) rain 's a-gonna fall," and you'll sing the refrain almost every time a literal hard rain's a-gonna fall or whenever the doomsday feeling washes over you during those prescient moments of impending doom. At least, I do. The words of the famous troubadour seem to come from a distant place and time, like he's channeling a fire and brimstone preacher from the Second Great Awakening. Where does a line like "I'’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard" actually come from? The answer: From the New York Public Library.

Dylan normally penned songs in any of the dozens of coffeehouses in the Village of the day, but in the summer of 1962, Dylan wrote this particular song in the basement apartment belonging to his friend Chip Monck (né Edward Herbert Beresford Monck, in 1939; famous later as the MC and lighting designer for Woodstock) at 160 Bleecker Street (near Thompson). After moving to New York in January of 1961, Dylan mostly sang older ballads and the works of others, but he started searching for what he described in Volume One of his Chronicles (Simon and Schuster, 2004) as the right "template" for his own songs. Not relating to the Kerouac voice of contemporary alienation and wandering, he reached back into an older time for his imagery, poetry, and voice. He explains that he went to the New York Public Library and read on microfilm many newspaper articles dating from 1855 to 1865, looking for the stories that gave him a sense of everyday life in the antebellum era and in the Civil War, a time he connected with his own. He writes, “After a while you become aware of nothing but a culture of feeling, of black days, of schism, evil for evil, the common destiny of the human being getting thrown off course. It’s all one long funeral song, but there’s a certain imperfection in the themes, an ideology of high abstraction, a lot of epic, bearded characters, exalted men who are not necessarily good.” (p. 85) His immersion in the rhetoric of 19th century America before the Civil War, plus a dose of Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, goes a long way in understanding many early Dylan songs.

25 Affordable Hotels and Inns in New York City

In the search for an affordable hotel, the adventurous traveler often ends up selecting a hotel on blind faith, praying that the inevitably small room is clean, the staff adequately attentive, the location proximate to nearby city attractions, and nothing uninvited is crawling around the floor. The room may be a little dark, and the view out the window underwhelming, but often the accommodations, upon checking in, will exceed expectations and become an important part of the travel experience. 

The word "affordable" is a subjective term, because $220 a night may seem reasonable to some people but not to others. Staying in New York is more expensive than in most cities. According to a study cited in the Telegraph.co.uk (story from Feb. 4, 2010), the average hotel room rate in New York in 2009 was $318.98. That's high, the third most expensive hotel city after Moscow and Abu Dhabi. Yet, the number represents a 23 per cent drop from the $414.52 average in 2008. Many of the hotels listed here fall slightly or considerably below the recent 2009 average. Based on reader reviews and personal experience, the consensus is that any of these hotels, inns, or hostels would be a very good choice for the price.

Listed below are several New York hotels, inns, and alternative lodgings offering rooms in the $99-$250 a night range. The prices cited are based on a check of available rooms in mid-April 2010. In general, the prices can vary widely, changing by month, season, weekday or weekend. Check the hotel's website for current prices and special packages or a popular travel site for possible deals. Also, if you're quite sure about your choice, look for the often-lower non-refundable rate. The selection of hotels in this list tends to shy away from the high-density visitor traffic in Times Square and the Theatre District in favor of established or intriguing walkable neighborhoods. (Times Square accommodations will be the subject of a future post.)

Hotels

Ace Hotel (NoMad/Murray Hill)
20 W. 29th St. (212) 679-2222
What's nearby: Macy's, Korea Way, Madison Square Park, Empire State Building, Morgan Library.
A chic new boutique hotel with a wide range of rooms and prices, including the Starving Artist special. This will get you a bunk bed room with a private bathroom, free high speed wireless access, and amenities such as mini refrigerators and a mini bar. Plus the special includes free ramen noodles on the first night. For more on the Ace Hotel and The Breslin, its restaurant, plus what's nearby, read the post Breakfast at the Breslin, Then a Walk.

The Cosmopolitan Hotel (Tribeca)
95 West Broadway, near Chambers St. (212) 566-1900
What's nearby: Tribeca Cinemas, World Financial Center, courthouses.
An old hotel with modernized rooms in the $169-$199 range.

Hotel Chandler (NoMad/Murray Hill)
12 E. 31st St. (212) 889-6363
What's nearby: Macy's, Koreatown, Madison Square Park, Empire State Building, Morgan Library.
Good reviews for this hotel make their Spring Fling special (around $237) attractive. In the luxury boutique hotel category. Several hotels in this list are centered in this diverse neighborhood.

At the Metropolitan Opera, with a Partial View of Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Nose

Shortly after the Met's house lights dimmed and the crystal chandeliers were raised to the ceiling for the opening scene of William Kentridge's production of Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Nose, I anticipated that I was going to have a good time, despite the fact that I couldn't see the whole stage. Sitting in the back row of Box 1 in the Parterre, the seats above the orchestra and under the Grand Tier, I arrived with full knowledge that the seat I purchased was designated one with a "partial view." I didn't care. I just wanted to see some of Kentridge's innovative production and listen to Shostakovich's music under the baton of Valery Gergiev. Another reason I was there was because I wanted the experience of sitting in a box seat in the Parterre. I've been to the Met on several previous occasions and had tickets ranging from the orchestra to the Dress Circle to the nosebleed sections of Family Circle, but while sitting in those seats, I always envied the people sitting in intimate groups of six in the side boxes. They looked like they belonged in Renoir's painting, La Loge (1874), or in a Henry James or Edith Wharton novel, feigning interest in the stage but really directing their opera glasses toward some smoldering object of desire across the balcony. Sitting in a box seat at the Met would magically pull back the curtain on New York wealth and power, I thought, and reveal the true interests of the city's elite to rest in the vagaries of private passion.

At Petrosino Square

SoHo and Nolita make great neighborhoods for strolling, shopping and dining, but it's often hard to find a good place to sit down. Examining the map of the streets south of Houston and north of Canal, only one little area seems convenient - a small park called Petrosino Square at the meeting of Kenmare, Lafayette, and Cleveland Place. Formally opened on October 13, 2009 and now in its final stage of expansion and restoration, a plan that included rebuilding of the original brick columns, the addition of bike racks, plantings, and most conveniently, the placement of several new benches, the square has become the perfect place to stop after exploring the nearby bustling streets. According to the NY Parks announcement last October, the $2 million reconstruction was funded entirely by New York City Council Member Alan Gerson.

Art and Politics in Riverside Park - From Anna Hyatt Huntington's Joan of Arc to Penelope Jencks's Eleanor Roosevelt

Stretching along the Hudson River from 72nd Street to 158th Street, Riverside Park, one of the city's most established parks, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1875, just ten years after the Civil War. The park serves as the site for two important monuments commemorating events of the war, Grant's Tomb and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, as well as statues of women we associate with different times - France's spiritual soldier, Joan of Arc, and America's fighter for the underprivileged, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Along the way, the ample park space along Riverside Drive makes driving into the city from the north less abrupt than expected, but walking is the best way to appreciate the various levels and movements within the park. Since 1875 Riverside Park has undergone several periods of renovations and improvements, with many taking place in the last twenty years. Local residents have largely contributed to the designs of the current park, and based on their presence in the park, it looks like their dogs have contributed opinions as well.

A New York Spring Calendar - Blooming Times, Seasonal Events, and Wildlife

Read the updated Spring 2011 Calendar here.

Winter, we are so over you.

Blooming Times

• If you've spotted small yellow flowers on the bare stems of small ornamental trees this week, you're likely looking at the Cornelian Cherry Dogwood, an excellent harbinger of Spring.

• Central Park Conservancy's website lists blooming times within the park. During the month of March we begin to see crocus, daffodils, forsythia, snowdrops, witch-hazel, and hellebores. Species tulips will emerge in several places, but the Shakespeare Garden and Conservatory Garden are particularly good places to catch the beginning of Spring blooms.

• Citywide Blooming Calendar from New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
April is the month when full blooms appear in New York City, and this NYC Parks website provides a handy monthly guide to the specific locations of blooming trees, flowers, shrubs, and buds.

• Heritage Crabapple Trees. New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
Celebrating the great beautiful flowering crabapples, this page on the NYC Parks site explains why you can't buy and plant a crabapple today and expect it to look as beautiful as those in Central Park.
• Website of The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx River Parkway at Fordham Road Bronx. The Garden is open year-round, Tuesday-Sunday, 10am - 6pm. Check the website for exceptions.

A Walk in Willowtown to the Future Brooklyn Bridge Park

Brooklyn Bridge Park, an 85-acre park now under construction, stretches along the East River from north of the Manhattan Bridge to Atlantic Avenue. A significant addition to the waterfront, the park will transform six piers into open green lawns, beaches, and playgrounds, all with a variety of recreational opportunities. The park promises the become a major new feature of the genteel Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, and while walking the neighborhood's famous high promenade above, the famous view of the lower Manhattan skyline will be layered with an additional view of the green parks spaces below. As the name of the park implies, there would also be a nice view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Financing the ambitious stretch of public space has run into several problems that were mostly resolved this week. The Mayor announced a deal between the city and the state of New York in which the city would kick in additional funding of $55 million, money previously earmarked for the rebuilding of the Javits Center. This would add to the 139 million the city has already committed to the park. The State Public Authorities Control Board will still have to approve the deal. Sections of the park that were previously scheduled to open this Spring have been delayed, but there's potential now to move forward. Seasonal attractions such as a pool and an ice rink plus new housing near the park could provide the city sources of revenue. See NY1's story here.

The Maine Monument in the First Light of March

A week ago, on a bright afternoon before the snow melted, I was walking south along a path in Central Park toward the entrance of Merchant's Gate. Looking toward Columbus Circle, I was arrested by the spectacle of warm afternoon sunlight cast upon the Maine Monument. It was the kind of sunlight that suffuses surfaces almost like a golden fluid.
The Maine Monument stands as a memorial to the American sailors who died on February 15, 1898 when their battleship exploded in the Havana harbor. Six week later, Spain and the United States were at war. When the war ended in December of that year, the treaty agreement left the world power of Spain considerably weakened, turning over their large territorial claims throughout the world - the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii - to the United States.

With his own empire of newspapers, publisher William Randolph Hearst called for the creation of a memorial to honor the sailors, resulting in a flood of contributions by citizens, many of them schoolchildren. As the historic sign on the monument (NY Parks) explains, Hearst favored the idea of placing the monument in New York Harbor, but eventually the Times Square area was selected. When it was discovered that a comfort station was being erected in the spot, the current location near Merchant's Gate became the solution, a fitting counterpoint to the statue of Christopher Columbus. Architect H. Van Buren Magonigle and sculptor Attilio Piccirilli subsequently created the monument. The monument was placed here in 1913.

Connect the Dots: A Self-Guided Walk to Public Art in Lower Manhattan

Mercifully, the snowiest February in New York in recorded history is gone. Welcome, March! The promise of spring brings pleasant thoughts of long walks in the streets, and while this walker of the streets looks forward to seeing many a museum exhibit, noted here recently, there's so much art to enjoy outside. Through multiple programs and sponsors for public art in New York, the city itself constitutes a vast outdoor museum. The art collection of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation alone rivals collections in major municipal museums. Though the reality of the climate in March should bring more cold days to come, the warmer days may provide a good occasion to stretch the feet and explore some of the city's best contemporary outdoor sculptures, traditional monuments and memorials, and temporary art installations.