Several people told me that Brooklyn is the new Village, i.e. rents are so high in Manhattan that people have moved out. Several things led me out there last night: I’d heard that the Spoonbill & Sugartown bookstore was selling a ton of our books, Bedford Avenue sounded hip, and I wanted to hear The Baby Soda Jazz Band, playing that night at a brewpub in the hood.

For many years in my visits here I’d avoid subways, walking many miles and taking cabs. Intimidated by being underground, never sure which train to take. Several years ago I realized this was stupid, and got back into subway travel by going out to Coney Island (in the winter). That got me back into it.

The subway trip out to the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn is short and simple. I came up and walked to Bedford Ave. and felt immediately at home. It’s quiet. That is, compared to the laser intensity of Manhattan. Relaxed. A skateboarder whipped down the street. I saw a bunch of great stuff in what you might call an antique store, called Ugly Luggage. There was an old Underwood typewriter and boy was it fun to hit mechanical keys for a change. (I bet my writing would be better if I used a mechanical type writer — yeah, duh!) I liked just about everything in the store and ended up buying this little 1934 Boy Scout Diary, partly filled out way back when. (I was born in 1935.) It belonged to Victor Teinour of Slatedale, Pennsylvania There are pages of drawings of storm cloud formations, trees, plants, fish, music for bugle calls, etc. It’s about 2″ X 6.” Good vibes.

The day before I left, Lew made up this tiny little book, about 1½” x 2″ and it’s been a huge (sic) hit with everyone I’ve shown it to. When I showed it to publisher/media guy Richard Nash a few hours ago, he was delighted and said, “Dude, that’s publishing!

We’re going to print up a passel of them when we publish the book.

 I headed out for dinner around 8 last night. For once I wasn’t lugging my backpack, just the fanny pack. Wearing my Asics trail running shoes, I felt light, again reflecting on the skills of running being useful in navigating city streets. Also thinking that being mobile is one of the greatest abilities to possess, being able to walk as one gets, um, older.

Running friends: pay attention to the cartilage in your knees. I quit running before I was down to bone-on-bone and I was thanking my lucky stars as I moved along at a pretty fast pace last night. I want to be able to walk as long as I’m breathing. It was a warm night and as I went up 5th Ave, there was a rosy sunset glow over the Hudson, looking west down the numbered streets.

It’s now early morning and Howlin Wolf is singing, “I’m built for comfort, ain’t built for speed…” via Sirius radio on my iPad. Last night I had Linguine Nero, pasta made with squid ink, ay Cafe Pescatore, a great Italian restaurant on 2nd and 50th and 2 glasses of Nero Davila red wine. Ummm!

Here are some shots from last night:

Kind of hard to see what’s going on here, but this is the facade of a large building (on 6th or 7th?), about 70 feet across, showing surfers in Huntington Beach, California. (Surf was up!)

I went to a sold-out Elvis Costello and the Imposters concert at the Beacon Theater tonight, a lovely old gilded playhouse, and it was dynamite.

On the way home from the concert on entrance to 50th Street subway station: Lady of the hour.

Great article on Gaga in Sunday New York Times by Jon Pareles. He understands her and is a good writer. By contrast, a snarky and semi-snide review of her new album, Born This Way in USA Today this morning, Monday May 23rd, by Elysa Gardner. Get over it, Elysa!

See ya tomorrow.