New York's Village Halloween Parade 2008

Forgive me if you’ve read this before, but I remember when I went to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris. Even though the former palace is about 3 to 5 city blocks it took about 5 minutes to find the gallery that I was looking for. I’m pretty good when it comes to following maps or finding places by instinct. So I get to the room the portrait is hanging in and it’s facing me but it’s lot smaller than I thought it would be and also, there is about 200 people between me and it. How was I supposed to get close enough so that I could see what all the fuss was about? I just walked forward.

You see I had realized that the gallery was full of Japanese or Chinese people and none of them were much taller than elbows. I figured there would be nothing that they could do to me unless they jumped up and bit me on the nipples, which might have been interesting but it was that kind of party. Anyway within seconds I was right up front where I needed to be. Success. It’s all about location. So why does it seem that I am unable to do this now?

After deciding that the Phillies World Series Championship celebrations and the Halloween festivities all clinging together in same confined area would have been too much for me, I decided to do the Halloween parade in New York. I arrived at 6. That left me an hour before which the parade would begin. What to do? Line up at barricades and ensure myself a good view? No that would have been too sensible. Instead, for the strangest reason I heard my name being called and I guessed that it must have been coming from the Paul Smith store on 5th Avenue and 16th. Without hesitation I headed there and spent a pleasant 30 minutes there and came out a few dollars shorter.

Anyway, so I’m back of 6th Ave and I realize all the good spots have been taken and in some places the crowd is 6 to 10 people deep. What should I do? I walked down to 8th St and the crowd just seemed to grow exponentially. I knew that if I went any further south, I would be even able to move let alone see anything over their heads. So I walked back up to 11th St and crossed over by the police street crossing that they’d set up and headed south again. I had noticed that there really wasn’t a crowd by the library on the other side of 8th St. But the police wouldn’t let me in. No press credentials, no entrance. Hmm, there’s an idea for a post. What constitutes a member of the press and do you have to work for a corporation in order for you to be one.

So I walked back north and settled for a spot behind some bald headed bitch who when he wasn’t sticking his tongue down his girl friend’s throat, would keep bobbing his head up and down in front of my camera when I took a picture, and the little Japanese girls who must have escaped from some Japanese Club where all the girls are hostesses if you know what I mean, because they seemed to fart every time someone came by and they became excited. But I realized that lighting was good because they had TV and movie cameras there and like I said before, it’s all about location.