It’s lovely to have choices. There were two different Downtown Clown options in Manhattan this evening. The New York Downtown Clown Revue had the Bongar Challenge: enter, be really funny, exit in 3 minutes. And over at the Flea Theatre Greg DeSanto was showing clips from his vast collection of comedy videos. I chose the latter because Greg DeSanto was one of the clowns who came off the road to teach us slaps and falls when I went to Clown College. The films I enjoyed most were a short film from the 70’s of clowns in Clown Alley putting on their makeup. It featured a young Frosty Little who had retired from the road by the time he taught us at Clown College. The other really cool thing to see was home movies of a young George Carl doing gymnastics and parts of his act out on the lawn for his family in Ohio. I am glad people like Greg DeSanto have taken it upon themselves to collect this cool stuff.
Tag: Ohio
A New York Election Night
I was a nervous wreck all day. My Kid was home from school so I wasn’t able to hike around the city checking out the energy of the lines outside the polling places. I can go walkabout on my own, but My Kid requires a destination.
Finally, around 6 pm I got her on the Q train heading to Times Square where I’d heard people were gathering. There were people with Obama signs gathering in the center of the square. That was interesting to me. But, we went into Toys R Us. I bought my kid a toy stuffed rabbit and a tube of sugary goo from Candyland in advance payment for patiently waiting with me.
I half hoped that the election would be such a landslide it would be called right at 7:00 pm when the polls closed. That’s what I was hoping for when rushing out of the store. No such luck. Early southern states with 5% of the vote counted were going for McCain and I got scared.
We joined the crowd in the triangle watching the ABC broadcast on the big screens and the backs of Cokie Roberts in blue and Donna Brazile in red and two, non-random white men but I didn’t know who they were. My Kid was the only little kid there smack dab in the middle of Times Square, most other parents had more sense. She kept asking when Daddy would be there. But, Daddy was delayed at his office. Times Square wasn’t so crowded that he couldn’t find us. When he joined us we watched some more. I tried to tell them I could have stood there in Times Square cheering the small victories and waiting for the final result all night and if they wanted to eat dinner they needed to take the initiative. I was willing to leave Times Square after Obama won Ohio. We walked towards Rockefeller Center. We ate at McCormick and Schmicks. My Kid was having desert and we were waiting for the check when we heard screams in the kitchen. The restaurant was almost empty and the manager had just announced that the doors were closed, no more new customers, they could start their closing chores. Then we heard shouts from the kitchen and all the waiters moved towards the bar where a silent TV glowed election information. A waiter asked and the manager gave permission for the sound to come on. “The lady’s crying.” We’d already moved our desert and coffee to the bar and I was crying.
After McCain’s concession speech we left the restaurant and went to Rockefeller Center to watch Obama’s victory speech on the giant TV’s. So many cheering people. So many honking taxis. So much happiness!
My Kid was melting. We had to go home.
When we came up out of the subway station at Lafayette we could hear drumming and cheering. It was a scene in the street between Ralph’s corner grocery and Moe’s bar. So many young adults dancing in the streets. The Husband was carried My Kid home while I took a quick detour to check it out. When I got home I made The Husband go out and check it out.
So much happiness.
There were police but they were just hanging out. There was nothing for them to do, everyone was so happy. All the mob did was dance and cheer.
Every time a car went down the street it would honk and everyone would cheer.
We lay in bed listening to the waves of cheers that continued till 3 am.
Such a happy night!