Saturday, January 27, 2007

Manhattan

Dear Claudine,

My partner and I recently spent a long weekend in Manhattan. It was a wonderful getaway filled with art and energy and magical moments that could only be experienced in New York. The only sad part about it was that our favorite record store, Footlight Records, had recently closed. I’m not sure if you were aware of Footlight or not, but they specialized in Broadway and movie soundtracks. I bought several hard-to-find records there including “At Long Last Love” and “The Lonely Lady.” We even found a guy who sold us a bootleg recording of “Carrie: The Musical.” This trip I had my sights set on finding the soundtrack to your wonderful film “The Party.” Even though they unwisely didn’t include your vocal for “Nothing to Lose,” I wanted a mint copy for my collection. Sadly, it was not meant to be. I did discover that Footlight Records has an online presence. But somehow searching for groovy vintage records online isn’t the same as spending two hours leisurely looking, touching (even smelling) the aged pressed cardboard and vinyl. I did find a wonderful little record store called House of Oldies on 35 Carmine St. and bought the 45 of your version of “Sleep Safe and Warm,” which is one of my favorites. The main reason that I’m writing today is that I wanted to tell you about our Sunday brunch at the Algonquin Hotel. We went to see this amazing woman named Barbara Carrol. Though I had previously never heard of her, she’s evidently a jazz legend and very well respected. She is an accomplished piano player and has a lovely singing voice. She brought my partner and I to tears. We were so moved that my partner stole an Algonquin spoon from our brunch so we would always remember the moment. Please don’t think badly of him – we did leave the waiter a very generous tip.

Sugar Me,
Bradley

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