Saturday, August 25, 2007

breaking news

I took Ursa back uptown for a redo today as her stripping Monday left her furrier than it should, and cringed as she whimpered under the closer plucking. I'm not a mother and hope I will never hear myself saying: this hurts me more than it hurts you.

We got on the express from 86th, market bound, and as the doors closed, heard the the words all metrocard holders dread:

'Ladies and Gentlemen, stand back. You are in the presence of professionals'.

You know what happens then: the tourists giggle and clutch their bags, the tattooed and gelled guys from the boroughs turn up the volume and stretch their legs wide in the aisle, and the rest of us shift in our seats hoping not to attract attention.

But what followed from there to 59th was the best performance I have seen since The Tristan Project at Lincoln Center. And at 5 hours shorter and 350 dollars cheaper, I 'm thinking something's not right and I'm part of it.

Two guys and a boombox delivered a fearless and flawless acrobatic routine that spanned the packed car and was clearly designed to take maximum advantage of the poles and spaces and you know they're in and out between stations, gauging the crowd, the velocity, the volume, plunging forth with multiple individual and paired backflips and single hand stands and flying manoeuvres, repeatedly scaling a parked stroller and shopping bags not to mention protruberant knees and toes and baseball visors.

Even I couldn't help but laugh out loud and cheer, behaviours from which I have heretofore managed to refrain while engaged in the less-said-the-better business of mass transit.

I feel cheap having responded with a dollar and a compliment.

Give me a second chance. Does anyone know who these guys are?

Breaking News

No comments: