Wednesday, October 31, 2012

A HELL OF A TOWN














The only word is disturbing. To see long time familiar places on a flat screen TV in a foreign land that are ruined, wrecked, and under water. These are places where, once upon a time, I hung with comrades, went about my business, flirted with New York girls, or stumbled drunk in the dawn. The power is out. Streets are dark. The elevators no longer function. The subway is a storm drain. The traffic lights are dead. Automobiles have been thrown about like toys. Ranks of yellow cabs are partially submerged. The bars and saloons I knew so well are silent. What has become of The White Horse, The St. Mark’s Bar & Grill, The Grass Roots, The Park Inn, Dan Lynch’s, Tramps, McAnn’s The Chameleon. Have they been washed away or were they all ready gutted by yuppies or moved to Williamsburg. It’s been a while.
            Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, Hurricane Sandy produces a distinct Godzilla foreboding. A tropical hurricane, wrapped in an arctic cold front, and driven inland by a rogue jetstream was the stuff of science fiction or disaster movie, or else a worst-case horror theory of extreme climate change in action. How long has it been since Tokyo was simultaneously attacked by super-earthquake, tsunami, and hard radiation? When the fuck do we get the message?  

Click here for Bob

The secret word Inundated

POSTED LATERSeems I was fooled by the image. It’s mighty symbolic but also Photoshop. I’m leaving it, though, it doesn’t change how I feel. 

6 comments:

Johnny Haddo said...

you've lost the plot old bean..chasing shadows..wondering why your ears keep on growing while the rest of ya has trouble moving..Brighton & Hove are just like Coney Island..NYC ..the underclass have long since re-located..the ghost of 'Pinkie Brown' is laughing at ya

not a Russian are ya DoC..??

Unknown said...

The 'underclass' AKA working people are still there in some of the hardest hit areas. Another song that may appropriate - http://youtu.be/wEKkJHSO8A0

Johnny Haddo said...

Oi Honey-Babe when your basement is filled with dirty water..your kids covered in shit & the old lady is giving ya a very time..wot you don't need is another tune..wot you need is a clean pair of hands..a bigger pump & a month in the sun to dry out!

Mr Jones said...

When do we get the message? "The message" and its strident, largely self-righteous proponents have done a fine job of obscuring the problem. The answer is and has been for many years to devote intellect, time and money (yes, money) to adapting homes, cities, countries, governments' policies, and by extension their citizens' lives to dealing practically with what is obviously a new level of danger from natural phenomena. Far too much finger-pointing at whoever's fault it is, and a lot of airy-fairy nonsense about returning to some mythical agrarian nirvana, not enough acknowledgement that the industrial revolution cannot suddenly be undone - (and it flies in the face of reason to think that it should be). Adapt and evolve, or die - just stop pontificating and wailing about the wickedness of 'modern life'. And by the way, forget about the arrogance of 'saving the planet'. If we do prove to be incapable of saving ourselves, the planet will do just fine without us for a few more billion years.

Johnny Haddo said...

Mr Jones ya need a little mayhem in your heart this weekend..at visit to Lewes, East Sussex for Bonfire Night is highly recommend..then again you might miss the point _

Mr Jones said...

I might - it's not my name for nothing. Go JoHnny, go.