An anecdote Ryen Rusillo may like.

I’m a full grown NBA fan. I’m a proud New Orleans transplant. Four months ago I found the closest public court to my place is a bike ride to a playground in Treme, not far from some projects. I’m not good at basketball, but I enjoy playing. I’ve been getting in games with kids, playing some 21, and an occasional half court game, often 1 on 1. I often spend time shooting around alone. I’ve never seen major pick-up games played, or other white guys on the court. Today when I was chilling on a bench letting some little kids play with my ball, some hipster looking white guys came and started shooting. I asked them if they wanted to get in a game. It turns out they were on vacation from Denmark, and had their converted bus parked at a nearby RV resort. As we were shooting for teams, some neighborhood guys were walking by and joined in. We had a diverse group of adults coming together to enjoy the great sport of basketball. People were playing hard and getting into it. The teams were competitive, and there were scrapes from the concrete. One guy hit four long jumpers down the stretch for the win. At the end we were all smiling and touched hands. It’s important to remember the benefits of sports beyond entertainment. There is a universality that lets you connect with people whom you may not connect with otherwise. Spectator sports serve a purpose. Today it is easy to be in touch with basketball fans all around the world, share ideas, and celebrate things in common. I enjoy going to the Arena to cheer on players wearing “New Orleans” across their chests. Watching athletes excel to so great a degree at something I do poorly for fun inspires me to get outside and put up some shots. My natural enjoyment of a little competition makes me enjoy following the ups and downs of teams populated by very motivated elite athletes. Millions of people from all around the world also enjoy basketball.

10-11-2011 On Republican Presidential Candidates

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I flew into the Roc and went to the home of my parents and my brother; my family is the biggest reason for the trip. Over the next 5 days I saw aunts, cousins, uncles, and godfamily. I went to the museum, Sheridan’s, Country Sweet, Scotland Yard , and Castaways. I went to see Howard the turtle at 17 school. I did a little tour of RIT. I also toured around town a little and can see that the Roc has some pretty decent little neighborhoods. South Ave, Monroe Ave, and so forth seem sort of hip. Besides the Jazz Fest, however, the music scene still seems like doo-doo. Hey, Roc bands: try making music that people besides your friends like; try going beyond the worst rock you can produce. “A little dance music wouldn’t hurt either,” says the Orleanian.

My Dad drove me down to Albany and I took the Amtrak to La Manzana Grande. I stayed at the Jane hotel for two nights. I ate at La Bonbonniere, which is a legit, inexpensive spot on 8th ave, and the Standard Grill, which is very trendy Manhattany… and expensive.

I went to Rock the Bells, one of the big reasons for this entire excursion. This was my second year in a row going, and yes, I had a great time. I really liked the Masta Killa solo set. Supernatural had a song where he did impressions of MCs that description can’t do justice. Ghostface had his normal 10 minutes of complaining about the sound monitors, lighting and such. I saw some great freestyling and contemporary MCs, along with all the old school legends. Nas had Pete Rock and Premier as his DJs. Erika Badou knocked my socks off. And so on…

I stayed with Kesha Star for a couple of nights around the West Indian parade, New York City’s biggest parade, another of the big reasons for the trip. The floats are just huge speaker systems, and parade goers just kind of watch and mill around. 2.5 million parade goers, not dancing. The highlight of the holiday was the J’Ouvert, which starts 2am as a separate parade with crews of steel drum bands marching a shorter route in the neighborhood. My friends and I hit the streets at 4:30am and danced with the crews just like a second line until about 8am. During the West Indian Labor Day holiday, cops don’t mind you drinking nutcrackers. There was lots of partying and socializing; Crown Heights is cool.

After Kesha’s I went to stay with my old friend Ariel Von Gall in Greenpoint. For a few days I did the Greenpoint/Billyburg thing as well as forays into Manhattan and explorations into other Brooklyn neighborhoods; Cobble Hill, Columbia Waterfront, and Red Hook. I saw old friends and more cousins. I went to the Brooklyn Museum, Regina Scully’s art opening, and saw her fam too.

Rundown of bars: Franklin Park -Kesha lives here. It might be my bar too if I lived over there. Spike Hill -I wrote my grad school application here in 2004. Lovin Cup -I had the nacho fries; yes really good. Manhattan Inn -feels as real as a theater set. Nights and Weekends -cool spot. Stone Tavern -I think it’s my favorite bar in GP. Mazzat -I got some good info and ideas from the charming Lynette. Fort Defiance -run by Orleans lovers, the evening bartender came in with an Abita Superdome tshirt and beads; Restoration ale on draft. Plan B on Ave B -this place was cool, PBR & Jameson $5, in a hip part of Manhattan. Pig N Whistle on 2nd -there are a few of these, and they’re full of whiteys. Maybe I’m negative because I watched the Saints lose here. Maybe because beers are $7.50. Banc -we went someplace after this too, but I don’t remember either spot that well…

At Kim’s I bought used CDs, and at Bluestockings I bought a book about the Living Theater. Bluestockings is like the Iron Rail: all volunteer, collectively owned and operated.

On my last night Kesha took me to a rooftop party in the LES, with skyline views and a projector showing Ghostbusters. It was a cool underground thing. They had to keep it quiet so it woudn’t get too big. That’s one crazy thing about New York: in other cities people can’t over-promote, and often there still aren’t enough people willing participate to make something a success; in New York there are so many people that sometimes success is keeping it enough of a secret.