Andrew J. Lederer

managed to to catch a little of the audrey hepburn film "wait until dark" in bryant park last night. even got there in time for the mass standing, dancing and clapping that traditionally greets the now-archaic hbo logo before each summer monday's film. but it's hard to cut loose when you're off to the side and not with anybody -- you feel conspicuous.

but i got to swing and sway a little as i described what was going on to people who got concerned when i stood up in front of them.

sunday, i briefly witnessed the italian "feast of giglio" in williamsburg, brooklyn. a bunch of guys stand under, lift and move a very tall religious statue up and down the street, apparently all day, while others eat sausage and peppers and play at shooting gallery-type games.

on a platform around the statue, also lifted and moved by the men, are a brass band, playing italian (and other) songs and an italian tenor, plus a galley-master kind of guy who urges on the pack animal-style humans on whose shoulders they're being carried.

it's the kind of thing you would have expected to see in little italy before most of it became the soho-esque "nolita". of course, williamsburg is fast being transformed now too and though the architectural backdrop for this spectacle was classic, the revelers were marching toward demolition sites where the area's deracinated future lies waiting. i think the feast got more publicity this year than in previous years and it's both ironic and typical that this celebration may become a well-known institution even as its neighborhood authenticity is eaten away.

from the feast, i walked a few blocks to the long-abandoned mccarren pool, which looked like a post-nuclear relic until last year when they began filling it not with water (which it hasn't seen -- except in rain -- for decades) but with bands, djs and swim-free pool parties.

i didn't stay long; just long enough to fully relish a dry pool filled with hipsters. but it was long enough to be glad i'd gone.

didn't go to mccarren tonight, thought they're showing the robert mitchum film, "night of the hunter", which i would like to see. no, i think i'm gonna walk over to prospect park, where the new york philharmonic is playing for free.

i've missed a lot of the concert but i can catch what i missed in central park or elsewhere over the next few days if i really want to. the fireworks probably haven't been set off yet, so maybe i should hustle to see them.

gotta write my edinburgh show, though.

although, i don't really have to write it. i've lived it over the last year. it can be found between the lines of this blog (though not this post).

still, there's some creative wranglin' to do.

nah.

not now.

i'm gonna go to the park.