The past week has been an eventful one for me, from starting a new job to going to casting calls and trying my best to stay dry in the rainforest of a concrete jungle that is NYC. My days have been consumed by going to casting calls for clients such as Armani Exchange, Express(next Monday) to a publishing company called Simon and Schuster. I have always been an avid writer so the opportunity to take part in a shoot for the cover of a book is quite cool. I took a moment to pump information out of the casting directors at Simon and Schuster as to how to get published and found it quite informative as they were very helpful. I have also been informed on various casting sights that give information on various commercial and film opportunities. I have taken baby steps in the right direction and am heading on the right path, now it's time to start getting my hands dirty.
Speaking of acting, my downstairs neighbors almost literally ran into Tom Hanks a couple blocks from our house. There will be some 17 movies filmed close to my neighborhood in Brooklyn this summer, one of which Tom Hanks is a lead actor in. As my neighbors idly drove their car down the busy Brooklyn roads they came to a stop sign, stopped suddenly and found themselves a bit in the crosswalk when four massive men walked into the crosswalk, hands out as if to stop the car, with Tom Hanks in the middle of the heavily muscled group of men. Tom smiled big and gave a friendly wave as my two neighbors sat in their car, a bit star-struck I'm sure. Talk about a run-in with fame!
I have started a new job working at a restaurant called Riverpark that is owned by Tom Colicchio. The restaurant is top-knotch with a kitchen the size of most people's houses and at least 15 or 20 chefs in house at all times who pump out the most amazing food at a moments notice. Riverpark's staff is a calamity of culture with people from the U.S., Mexico, England, India, Chile, among other regions of the world but the restaurant runs smoothly and efficiently with all cultures coming together to form a diverse family. The first night I worked I helped serve the CEO of Coldwell Banker who worked up a tab of close to $500. I have been informed that Martha Stewart and Tyra Banks are regulars at Riverpark so maybe I'll get to meet them eventually. Riverpark can also be "rented" out as a events company and will cater food for people. One such event that I worked was for NYU's graduating class of surgeons. I must say that, collectively speaking, I have never been surrounded by so many people with such high I.Q's. During the event NYU's coordinators of the celebration set up a slide show of pictures. Many of the images displayed were of the graduating surgeon's in the operating room having just removed a heart, or whatever internal body part one can phathom, and were taking a moment to pose with the recently severed body part as if it were a trophy, with a childish grin. Needless to say, the surgeons are of a different breed. I have posted a few pictures of the restaurant that were taken with my Blackberry, so they aren't the best quailty but they'll give you an idea of what it looks like.
"Little Red Wagon"
The wind cries out, “baby come back”
All the clocks have turned to black
The streets turn to sand
Yesterday’s break in my hand
Queens skip and whistle
While Kings play with thistle’s
And the cowboy draws his pistol
Causing the villain’s hair to bristle
The little red wagon drags them along
Going where lions play with men
Hoping for a chance to belong
Amidst the good who sin
Fly cardinal fly so high
The boy hides from their laughter
Afraid of the shadows on their skin
That reveals their true character
Wheels creaking on rolling hills
Fiend’s roll on their pills
The little red wagon drags them along
Hiding the masses from the throng
Down goes to up then tries not to disrupt
But that goes with being abrupt
Suicide is a shade of yellow
Mumbles the sad fellow
As the ace crashes then burns
I guess it was his turn
Now who’ll occupy the wench?
On the corner of 5th by the bench
All a day’s work for turmoil
They all know nothing can foil
The little red wagon that drags them along
Shadows mask his eyes
What once were summer blue skies
Hidden away by the things he's seen
No longer hold that spark of youthful gleam
Worn and ragged are the dark bags
Forgotten himself in the torn, dirty rags
Somewhere is home but for now its the sidewalk
Tell me your story, he laughs at the passerby's idle talk
Walks for days screaming, I've found Jesus
Waiting for heaven to come down and seize us
No earthly possession but a soul and a heart
But they've both been lost in the everlasting dark
Eyes show a misery in deceitful truth
Lost dreams of a hopeful youth
Everyone looks up but the foundation's at the bottom
Overlooked and simply forgotten
So tells the story of his lost eyes
That are covered in blood and lies
