Museum, Wall Street, Groundzero, Bluenote

Monday 11th May 2009

Museum of Natural History. First stop, dinosaur bones.

More and more bones, enough to track a certain evolution of life beginning with vertebral column and braincase followed by jaws. There were also exhibits on many civilisations such as the Indians to Pacific Peoples, Caribbean. Of course, time did not allow me to really look at any artifacts in particular. Touch and go.

Next headed to Wall Street, so named because in 1653 the city of new amsterdam erected a wall along the northern edge of town to protect the inhabitants from attack. It ran from the hudson to the east river but was abandoned in 1699 because necessitated excessive repair. Nearby was the Bowling Green Bull. And nearby to that was the US custom house and Bowling Green Park which is a historic centre of activity in the early days of New Amsterdam. There was a statue of King George III there until it got toppled by the rebellious Sons of Liberty after the reading of Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Nearby Bowling Green, was Ground Zero. Picture taken from opposite the road at One World Financial Center.

Washington Square Park. A variety of activities such as playing chess, jogging, basketball, squash-using-hands (which I can only figure is very painful). But the square itself is closed due to construction.

Will Calhoun at Bluenote. His band consisted of a saxophonist, trumpet, bass and keyboard. Other than 'Afroblue', they played Calhoun's own composition 'Pyramid' and 'Dorita'. There was also a song titled 'Imojo' meaning unity and is a tune from Brazil. It was interesting how Will Calhoun I think made use of loops or pre-recorded material to enhance the mix of their pieces. For this one song he was playing a special drum which sounded wired to some electronics. Unfortunately, I did not manage to get a chance to ask him about it after the show.