Jazz Poetry Session at Cornelia Street Cafe

(http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/2009/11/miserly_brunche.php)

This jazz poetry session is so SoHo like, or Tribeca like! I remember it was January 1st in 2004, I attended such an event in the evening, in a cafe at the border between SoHo and Tribeca (actually such a border is just a hypothesis, you never know where SoHo ends and Tribeca starts), anyway not far from Canal Street. My sister Jill read there two of her essays, then we went to another cafe and drank cup after cup of coffee till late in night, telling each other our misfortunes. That was crazy!

For someone who doesn't know NY and would expect glamor: well, these cafes in SoHo and Tribeca don't look special in any way. To say it straightly, they are ugly, they look poor, even sleazy, while they fascinate. Like all NY, they are too aware of being the Empire to care.

There was also Eve at the cafe where the event was taking place, as well as Steve Dalachinsky. I should write here about Steve's poetry, too, he's a great guy.

Such an event always gathers these guys who keep fighting against the Moloch which is SoHo, this monster which keeps their illusions while destroying almost everybody. But it's worth!

I was not in the best mood, I was looking for a job by that time and it was harsh. I remember Eve listened to me and gave me some words of comfort. It takes sometimes only a few minutes to see how wonderful a person is, someone you barely know. It happened that I found a good job just a couple of days after that.

Well, the jazz poetry session from this video took place in the Village (so, pretty close to SoHo), at Cornelia Street Cafe. Together with Eve Packer were Daniel Carter (sax) and Micah Gaugh (keyboard/percussion). It was in 2007.

(video by ToddWatson44)

(Eve Packer)

(New York, New York)