HOLLAND-PLAYLAND-SEASIDE: Todd P's was wonderful

Around 7:30 as the sun was going down over the dunes we gathered in a circle around a bunch of drums set up just a foot or so beyond where the waves were breaking. The Aa boys waved around old radios playing droning noise, and, after a few minutes, began beating a rhythm on drums which sank deeper into the sand with every strike. Out in the Rockaways, at the end of the A Train, past the local shuttle, two miles on the bus, and a walk past five oceanside jetties, I found a good two hundred people getting together to sing and welcome in the newest season.

I've always been wary of Brooklyn parties (though this was Queens in spirit it of course was a Brooklyn thing), in my experiences they've left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I've seen a much touted festival degenerate into little more than cramped rooms of sweaty kids shouting at each other drunk on phony absinthe. I've seen impenetrable circles of men and women bouncing off each other so that you never see anyone's face because, no matter what, they are always turned away from you. And here I am again, back in the city I'd thought I'd left forever but ready to try and love it one more time.

My friends and I, last year, used to spend time in Prospect Park or in their home in The Red Room near Newkirk Ave., up until the morning hours with a guitar and banjo all singing together. I was in the midst of a dark time, but there when we were all together I had so much joy, the kind of joy that would carry on for days.


Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers

Todd P's was wonderful. Getting of the bus, the smell of the ocean air hit me right away. On the walk down the beach, people talked to the others walking along with them. And soon after I got to where I was going, I bumped into some friends who invited me to join them.

The music was at times difficult to hear, being unamplified and near the noisy water, but it brought us all in together closer to hear what was going on. It was like one of those nights in Prospect Park, with everyone there to sing. And even though most everyone there was new to me, it felt very inclusive. I think, too, that I've changed and have become ready to be more inclusive myself.

As the sun went down, we piled into the bus and went back to the train. At the station, my friends from earlier found me and invited me to join them at "this bar behind the gas station." We walked over, and as they said, right behind it there was a little place on the water. Others started showing up and our tables quickly joined together. The jukebox shifted from its default playlist of Third Eye Blind and Hootie & The Blowfish to MGMT, and we watched the lights go on across Jamaica Bay in Manhattan, so far away.

Todd P was right on this. It was a perfect day "in an amazing natural place, and a triumph for what a free country we live in!" And a great city with great people, the perfect end to a weekend which, against all odds for me, was the most fun I've had in a very long time.

At the turn of the season, it's time for a new start. This time I'm going to get it right. Let's enjoy the summer together.

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P.S. - I'm really flattered by all of the traffic coming over from Todd P's website and Brooklyn Vegan and such! I spend most of my time observing things around me and writing about and photographing them. Most of it ends up here, so I'd love it if you subscribed to my RSS feed and came back sometime. <3, Jon.