Tuesday, August 3 2010

Breakbeat Tuesday – Welcome To The Neighborhood

A couple days shy of exactly one year ago we moved into our new home in Fort Green right off of Fort Greene park. Had anyone ever said to me that I would be a property owner at my age, in New York, especially in this neighborhood I would have said that you were smoking freebase. But, here we are, living the life, and I couldn’t be a happier man. Special love and kisses goes out to my wife – congratulations on one year, hon!

Not long after I moved here I did my best to walk around the neighborhood and get my acclimated. Here’s the market, the bank, here’s where I get my keys made etc. One afternoon while I was heading home down Dekalb Avenue I walked by this really cool looking coffee shop that was playing some fantastic sounding Salsa so, being the coffee addict and music lover that I am, I decided to go in a check out my local java spot, with an energy and excitement for having discovered this brand new thing…

… It wasn’t a coffee shop. It was a random Puerto Rican Ex-Marine’s kitchen that he just happened to be sitting in at the time with his buddies (all Marines I gathered by looking at the tattoos,) watching the Yankees game. The all stopped and just stared at me as I was standing right in the middle of his kitchen. I was silent, looked around and saw the giant USMC and Puerto Rican flags hanging on the wall, turned back to them and said “Um, I think I made a wrong turn…” They were dumbfounded, and didn’t say a word over the blaring music or the competing volume from the Yankees game. They just stared at me for what seemed an eternity. Then I realized, I was wearing my Phillies cap. I quickly made my exit.

“Welcome to the neighborhood…”

I walked by there all the time and of course they’re still there, hanging out, holding court. Don’t don’t seem to recognize me. I don’t always wear my Phillies cap though. A couple weeks back I walked by and they were playing this song:

The Latin Blues Band feat. Luis Aviles “(I’ll Be A) Happy Man” (Speed, 1968)