Notes from the Pianobabbler's New York residency
July 09 2009
Living in Toronto, the Pianobabbler is accustomed to celebrity.
There goes Renee Zellweger. Hey, that's Colm Feore. Hi Measha Brueggergosman, good to meet you.
Still, celebrity in New York City is different. In Toronto, it's an enhancement. Here it's mundane fact.
Doma, Greenwich Village. Coffee, plain Italian food, students, detached, hip, alienation, elegant inelegance. The Pianobabbler is committed to reading Pride and Prejudice this summer. (George Wickham is a grievous lout!.) People come. People go.
In strides another "people", Nicole Kidman. Movie star. She sits at a tiny table across from mine, with her lunch mate. Eats. Gabs. iPhones. Drinks. iPhones. iPhones. Leaves.
I'm not starstruck. There are a chosen few who could have starstriking impact on the Panobabbler. None are movie stars. What does strike, though, is that this woman before me can mobilize millions of minds, eyeballs and dollars. Yet here she is, just another soul, no makeup, no costumes. Another New Yorker.
In the ferment of this city, loud and luminescent, it's hard to make noise and shine.
Contrast. The night before the Pianobabbler was at Smalls. It's just next to Doma. Down the road from the legendary jazz club The Village Vanguard, Smalls is itself a jazz club. Not legendary (yet.) But known. It is indeed small. It is dark. It is a basement.
A good group is playing. Trombonist Dave Gibson's quartet. The organist Jared Gold is especially impressive. There are 20 people in the audience. 15 are listening. This counts as a prestigious gig in New York.
As we paid the cover and entered, the doorman thanked us profusely for coming to the club. Nicolle Kidman was nowhere to be seen.
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