2005-02-22 the bike messenger

There are still decorations on east Broadway for the chinese new year.
Sunday early in the morning awoken by drum sounds from somewhere nearby.
a can of bud light and a can of coke -
to get a kick and fight a sense of nausea.
at the bodega - one the 2 cans next one to the other
remind me of the blue states and the red states.
on the ny times i read someone saying ny is a purple state.
i saw a toiled and a twin size old mattress in the street.
i thought
that could be a new york city studio.
so decided to ride the bike for money -
freelance photographer - too many free days.
want to make extra cash -
to print a new portfolio, to fly to visit friends in warmer states, to wake up early in the morning.
AZ couriers, on Ridge street next to the bike store.
get some extra bucks and some new kicks.
i get to go all over the place
soho - tribeca - upper west side - west village - upper east side.
all over the city -back and forth/
he dispatcher .
he is mexican and he calls me "papa" and often says "you already got there?" when I call him on the phone for new pick ups.
it is hard physical work -
ride fast and stop and go - get on get off - walk up the stairs walk down the stairs.
you get to peek into all these different worlds -
like looking thru a keyhole or a crack in the door.
corporate - private - big - small.
in a few hours - so many different realities.
it is not boring - I feel like I am a voyeur or living in some sort of Robert Altman reality movie.commercial french photographer fancy tribeca loft.
in his fifties green bandanna and dirty jeans.
while talking on the cellphone he asks me if I know where I have to deliver the envelope - just because he has no clue -
I tell him it is Gotham 100 5th av.
he makes a few calls to find out exactly to find out and write it on the envelope.
he says s a couple of times something like - "you know if you have an accident and you get killed the envelope ends in the gutter..."./ "you know you could have an accident"
and then he goes on and on about a while ago a box of negatives was worth half a million dollars of production costs but now it's all digital - it's easy to make copies.
and blah blah blah...the places uptown and midtown.
fancy Madison avenue addresses -
messenger centers in basements in the back of buildings. fluorescent light heavy air.
people working inside closet 11 hours a day. dirt dust.
just below the brass the glass the steel interior design.
guys working in the service elevator sitting for hours in a chair just pushing buttons.
9 please - 5 please -up down
trying to finish a crossword - looking alienated -
unable to talk to the people that ask "how you doing?"
somewhere midtown -
I buy a pickle
sour and spicy.
there is a van with a star of david and a eastern orthodox christian cross inside. I wonder what is it all about.magazine office.
great view
take a picture from the window.
receptionist asks me if I carry the camera in case I see celebrities.
I go to the hospital for special surgery
71 and 1st
just reminds me how unhappy I was in medical school.
bike messenger.
physical work.
pushing hard.
after all does not make you worry
too much.
look outside the hospital window.
the sun is beautiful over Roosevelt island.
take a couple of pictures.
blond conservative-looking woman in a pantsuit that was walking nearby walks up to to the security guard and loudly whispers to his hear " i saw HIM taking a picture"
maybe she saw those signs on the subway "if you see something, say something".
maybe a terrorist that would want to target that hospital would want to try to conceal a minispycamera after all.
upper east side
east 60's
sidewalk so clean
polite doormen groomed dogs.
even the signs to remind people to curb their dogs
seem
fancy and polite.
shiny brass/formal language.
at the end of the day -
i feel my legs more than usual -
i can ride faster than usual.
10 avenue - and 44th
walk by the apt where i used to live in 2001.
just randomly there -
take a picture of the front door and of what i used to see from my window at the end of august 2001.
just before driving to California and coming back to a city and a life that was spinning in a craze.
back to AZ
the guy is impressed -
he says I am fast and I know all the streets.
I dont know how long I want to do this for.
less than 100 per day does not seem worth-
but extra cash on free days
after all is ok-
not to worry about the rent .
and maybe save up a few extra money to visit some friends somewhere warm.
probably the new "taxi driver" could be more about some alienated bike messenger than a Pakistani cab driver always on the cellphone.
I want to take some pictures - from the inside of the story.
the night before I ran into this writer I know.
he is 55 and a little out of shape.
he told me he drove a yellow cab for one year back in 77 or 76.
he would do the night shifts - he would pick up fares at the mudd club and the pyramid.
places where he wanted to hang out.
the CBGB's was for people from New Jersey he bragged.
sometimes after he would drive some people home at the end of the night
he would get tipped with a little blow wrapped in some tinfoil or
once in a while he would have sex with a passenger.
there were all these sex clubs in NYC, swinging after hours clubs.
He said he knew a few "travis bicke" types driving yellow cabs.
I went to Ess-A-Bagel to get a bagel with butter. they are the softest and best I have ever had.
I asked the guy that works there if he was from israel. he replied he was from Egypt.
"Coptic Christian?".
"No Muslim"
the other 2 were from
algeria and morocco.
The algerian guy spoke very little english.
he just moved from italy - he spoke broken italian with a heavy accent from naples
it was strange cuz the way they speak in naples is peculiar.
he won the green card lottery and moved to nyc 2 months ago
he told me the difference between europe and the usa
"in europe you work 8 hours and you get paid 60-70 euros
in america you work 11-13 hours and get paid 50 dollars".