Lyn Collins
But this post isn’t really about Lyn Collins. She’s on a comp called “James Brown’s Funky People” that a friend passed onto me a while ago. I’m posting the song because I was listening to it while walking down 5th avenue in Bay Ridge. 5th isn’t as appealing as 3rd because of the lack of trees. It’s an odd neighborhood. Irish Pubs with names like “Bullshots” and “Fiddlesticks” alongside hooka shops, Middle Eastern bakeries, more Dunkin Donuts than all of Manhattan south of 14th street, and 99 cent stores.
But why with the 99 cent stores? They are in every not-affluent neighborhood of Brooklyn, dozens of them right across the street from each other. How do they compete with each other? How do they get ahead? I like to check out the artwork at these places because sometimes, sometimes, you can find a velvet forest landscape with a hologram waterfall. I’ve found a few, but the frames have always been too beat up. If I’m spending 7.99 on it, I want one with a pristene frame that I can hang in my bathroom.
Anyway, the neighborhood is very Republican, because it’s filled with 4th generation New York Italians and Pols. There were campaign posters for this creepy guy everywhere:
Michael Grimm, who looks like Bay Ridge’s answer to Sarah Palin. I wish the campaign poster was up online - I’ve searched all the way through the 10th page of google results and it isn’t anywhere to be found - because it’s the spookiest thing ever. You have to see it to get the full idea. I thought of stealing one, but I don’t know what I’d do with it once I had it, since his face scares me.
This is your weekly report from The Ridge.
