Soundwalk ‘Passing Stranger’

Posted on by Michael Fuller

Sandy Hsieh and I went on this walk on Saturday September 9th, a beautiful sunny day, and there was a street fair in front of St. Marks Church where we began the walk. This area is nostalgic for me because I lived on 10th Street between 2nd & 3rd Ave. in the early 80’s. I went to CBGB’s, ate at the 2nd Avenue Deli and the Kiev, Keith Harring lived in the alphabets, and the Philmore East became St. Marks. But according to the Poets, and the narrator, Jim Jarmusch, the Beat generation was gone in the 80’s and I was part of the gentrification and the downfall of that subculture. I loved the East Village, with it’s art scene, the ethnic mix and the dangers of Tomkins Square. On the walk, listening to the poets, seeing where Allen Ginsberg’s many apartments are I was nostalgic and couldn’t believe how gentrified the East Village has become. Oh well, shit happens

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