Late night, from the notebook, earlier this evening, 9.22.2006. A whole month since the previous entry. I sit in Union Square on a bench about 30 feet from where Bill is participating in a drummers circle with a shaker. It’s a pretty good crowd and some frantic rhythms going on. It’s similar to the drummers circle in Prospect Park that I used to participate in, but it doesn’t have the same spiritual feel. Maybe because in Brooklyn it’s in a park, surrounded by earth and trees, whereas in Union Square it’s the Asphalt City.

Bill is having a great time, I can see his head bobbing and really getting into the groove. I wish I had my Airwalks on. I’m wearing dress shoes and did a lot of running around at work. Then I walked to Farfetched to kill some time while waiting for Bill. I was hanging out with Jessica who was closing the store. She’s a great kid. Jessica remarked how skinny I had gotten which was nice to hear despite it not being true at all. I feel fat and think I look dumpy. Oh woe is me. I helped Jessica close the store and walked over the John’s Restaurant on east 12th Street, where Bill and I were having dinner.

Met Bill who was a few minutes late which made me a bit cranky as I was also very hungry. We both had pasta and talked while we ate, though I was exhausted from the week and the walk. It was the first time in a few hours that I had been able to sit down and it felt good, almost a little drowsy. I didn’t drink, just water, Bill had his ginger ale. Who would’ve thought years ago my partner would be a teetotaler? We walked over to Union Square afterwards, Bill’s shaker providing percussion for our walk. Quite a heavy talk too. Philip Beansprout type stuff, which was good because since we’ve stopped seeing Philip, we’ve been getting lax in the communication department.

When we got to the drummers circle, Bill joined in and was able to shake off the ghost of the conversation, I watched and moved over here to the bench. It’s getting cooler on the bench, and by cooler I mean, the sun has gone down and it’s getting colder. Tomorrow is the first day of Autumn. Earlier today it was too hot to wear the leather blazer and I wound up sweating a lot, now it’s not enough. Panhandlers ask me for money and all I can say is, ‘Sorry Man’.

There’s a big crowd around the drummer circle, dancers in the middle, solo people and couples all swaying and gyrating hypnotically to Afro Caribbean rhythms. Interesting mixed crowd too, all different colors, and ethnicities and a healthy amount of tourist putting Euro dollars in the tin can that gets passed around between beats and rhythms. That’s another difference between Union Square and Prospect Park. They don’t pass the hat around in Prospect Park and they treat the circle as a deep spiritual ritual and it’s a palpable feeling. Union Square is more haphazard and more fun. A much younger vibe too.