On this day of remembrance, I have been reflecting on NYC as portrayed in STAS and Laura Nyro's New York Tendaberry. Both works reveal the duality of the Big Apple. Joni sings, "Night in the city looks pretty to me", in one of my favorite songs. But she also sings, "You feed it all your woes - the ghostly garden grows" and sees Manhattan as "an island of noise, in a cobblestone sea...[where] the beach are concrete and the stars pay a light bill." Eventually, she votes with her feet and departs NYC for California.
Laura Nyro's New York Tendaberry also reveals the grittiness of life in the city. In Gibsom Street, she sings, "Don't go to Gibsom, cross the river. The devil is hungry, the devil is sweet...they hang the alley cats on Gibsom Street." In NY Tendaberry, she sings, "Sweet kids in hunger slums, firecrackers break, and they cross, and they dust, and they skate, and the night comes." Further on she sings, "I ran away in the morning, now i"m back - unpacked. Sidewalk and pigeon - you look like a city, but you feel like religion to me." For Laura, New York is home, with all its shadows, and its light. If you have both albums, listen to them back to back today, and let me know your impressions. To me, they are both masterpieces. Ruth Richmond (but born in NYC)
