Independent Pro Wrestling Rules

My latest Notes from a Polite New Yorker column is now online at Kotori Magazine. It recounts my love of wrestling and documents a good wrestling show I attended at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

The independent wrestling shows in New York (and Philadelphia also) will be notable for several reasons. One of them is the level of audience participation. At the show I went to, the crowd was at times both cruel and appreciative. For example, when the ring announcer paged an audience member, “Will Alex Johnson please report to the front ticket table,” the audience took up the chant of “Alex sucks! Alex sucks!” Later, the ring announcer had to page a man named Charles Seaman, and more hilarity ensued.

One of the reasons I made sure to attend the show was to see the Necro Butcher in action. You may know him from his performance in ‘The Wrestler’ in a very bloody match with Mickey Rourke. The Necro Butcher is famous for bloody and over-the-top hardcore wresting matches. His match was not that bloody, but it was good.

I have made it a point to try to make it to more independent wrestling shows. You should too.

Fireworks Are Good For You

I spent this past weekend in Connecticut with friends. We mostly observed the Fourth of July holiday by drinking copious amount of freedom-loving beer and eating large amounts of delicious food.

We also set off some fireworks. Early in the day on July 4, my friend Luke and I visited Uncle Guido’s Fantastic Fireworks in Guilford, Conn. There we found many enticing fireworks, including some very impressively packaged items promising thrilling displays of firepower.

The large party was held at a friend’s house in a town near where we attended high school. As evening descended, we prepared for our display. Another friend was able to travel to some Southern states and bring back fireworks that are illegal here in the Northeast. Luke and I were essentially the opening act for these larger fireworks.

We embraced our role with gusto. Luke is very adept at quickly lighting several fireworks at once, making for a more thrilling spectacle. Many of the party attendees were married people with children, and the kids were impressed with the fireworks both big and small. I even helped light sparklers for the children. As this wound down, our friend with the illegal fireworks lit off his large ordnance, and big colorful blooms filled the night sky above my friend’s yard.

I have heard many people portray the fireworks tradition of the Fourth of July as excessively juvenile and a grotesque abuse of our Revolutionary heritage. I disagree.

The use of fireworks, especially the use of fireworks that are illicit in regions with strict laws and regulations of fireworks and firearms, is very American. The Revolutionary War was fought by people who were not about to let the government dictate how they lived their lives. The first shots fired in New England were against soldiers coming to confiscate arms.

Our country exists because people were willing to break the law and light things that went BOOM. Celebrate accordingly.

The Bard in Battery Park

As luck would have it, I was able to attend a performance of the New York Classical Theatre’s production of ‘King Lear’ in Battery Park last evening. It so happens that my uncle’s partner Andrew was playing the part of The Fool, so the incentive to see this production was greater than normal.

The New York Classical Theater performs classic plays for free, outdoors in New York parks. The company performs in Central Park and Battery Park. The audience must move with the actors and the plays are staged in several different areas of the parks.

Seeing Shakespeare in the park is a great experience, especially the way it is done by the NYCT. The audience moves frequently at the cues given by actors that are incorporated into the dialogue of the play. Sometimes the action will move directly behind the audience, and people in the back row find themselves in the front row and must quickly sit down or scramble out of the way.

The Bard’s great poetic words are a joy any time or place, and Andrew was outstanding as The Fool. If you do not see some free Shakespeare this summer in New York, you are missing out.

A Good Night in Hell('s Kitchen)

My latest column is now online on Kotori Magazine’s Web site. It documents a fine evening several weeks ago when a friend and I organized a group to drink in Hell’s Kitchen’s finest dives.

The victor of the night was most definitely The Holland Bar. There were some bars we didn’t make it to. Rudy’s is a great bar but it was way too crowded. Collins Bar was not on our itinerary but I’ve been there and it is indeed a fine place. Siberia was shuttered.

Hell’s Kitchen is a very interesting neighborhood and I’ve always been fascinated by its dive bars. They, like quality dive bars everywhere, are a dying breed. Support them at every opportunity.

Let me know if you disagree with any of my assessments here or if there are any glaring omissions.

Things To Do…

My latest Notes from a Polite New Yorker column is now online at Kotori Magazine. I was inspired by a former co-worker’s request of things she should do before she left New York.

I kept my list to 10 things, and tried to be more general in some cases. The list of things one should do before leaving New York could be endless. It would be an interesting exercise to try if you haven’t tried it.

Some things I thought about including but didn’t:

Eat a pastrami sandwich at Katz’s Deli. I didn’t think I could include Katz’s without including the Carnegie Deli, and that would bring up the Second Avenue Deli as well (though it is no longer on Second Avenue). Then I’d want to include a trip to Grey’s Papaya on 6^th Avenue and 8^th Street, and my list would get bogged down in a food fight.

Visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are great and interesting, but it can be very time consuming, expensive and aggravating. You will pay about $15 for a ferry ticket to a private company to take you to Liberty Island, a national federal park. Swaggering U.S. Park Police will bellow at you as they hustle you through metal detectors so you will know how important they are. You’ll have to go to Liberty Island and take another ferry to Ellis Island. If you stay on Liberty Island, there will be very long lines to visit the Statue of Liberty. The Statue’s crown will not open again until this July. From the Staten Island Ferry, you can get great views of both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, for free.

Go to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. St. Patrick’s Cathedral is a nice Cathedral, but so is the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and so is Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral. There are a host of synagogues, temples, churches and mosques that would be interesting as well. Once you’ve been to The Vatican, no other Cathedral will really impress you as much.