I have a long history of waffling on New York Magazine, especially more recently, when their online presence -– and especially their pop-culture site, Vulture -- zig-zags wildly from great, in-depth interviews with various movers and shakers to vacuous, rinky-dink pop piffle written by sniveling youngsters who, in the grand scheme of things, really don’t know shit from shinola. Results may vary, but that’s how I feel about it.
In any case, I noticed that their Curbed section (which New York subsumed in 2020) just revived its "21 Questions" column, their most recent edition featuring architect Billie Tsien. I thought the questions themselves were compelling, so despite not being a “creative New Yorker” on par with Ms. Tsien, I thought I’d take a stab at them myself. Here’s how that goes….
Name: Alex
Age: 54
Neighborhood: Greenwich Village
Occupation: Director of Content and Editorial Services in the Corporate Communications department of a performing rights organization.
What’s hanging above your couch? A framed poster of Jamie Reid’s graphic design for “God Save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols. I bought it in the summer of 1986 off the ceiling of Second Coming Records on Sullivan Street (long, long gone). It hung on the walls of my college dorm rooms for my sophomore, junior and senior years, after which it was rolled up and put in a cardboard tube for three decades, only to be exhumed, framed and hung on our living room wall last year.
What’s the first job you had in New York? I had a gig as a runner/gopher (or as I described it on my resume, “apprentice”) for a graphic designer. Basically, it was my job to run painstakingly crafted mock-ups of ads and other promotional materials to various cosmetic agencies around midtown. I’d wait there while executives scrutinized the work (I had to bite my tongue frequently from saying “DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING HARD SHE WORKED ON THIS?”) and then run back to the graphic designer’s studio apartment on the Upper East Side.
What color are you always drawn to? Purple.
What work of art or artifact are you most surprised you own? We own a little figure called “The Little Wanderer” by artist Yoshimoto Nara, thus called as she has little wheels and rolls around as if sleepwalking. We bought her as a lark when our little Charlotte was born in 2004 from a long-since-vanished baby shop on Broadway called Little Wang. She has lived in our kids’ room ever since. Upon hearing that Nara’s work has become only more celebrated in recent years, I did a little research. Today, “The Little Wanderer” can fetch up to $4,500 on eBay. Who knew??
Which New Yorker would you want to hang out with? So many of my favorite New Yorkers – Jim Carroll, Anthony Bourdain, Joey Ramone, Pete Hammill, Spalding Grey, etc. – are already dead. I think Laurie Anderson would be kind of interesting to have dinner with.
What’s the last thing you made with your hands? Well, I didn’t make the pumpkin itself, but I carved one last weekend, and was pretty pleased with the results.
Is there one thing you own multiple versions of? There are certain albums like It’s Alive by The Ramones, Funhouse by The Stooges, Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk, Nothing’s Shocking by Jane’s Addiction and several albums by Killing Joke and Cop Shoot Cop that I own on every available format. I also have all of the published editions of “Please Kill Me” by Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain.
What New York City museum do you always go back to? This is a toughie, as I genuinely love so many of them. While I frequently cite The Museum of the City of New York as my favorite, I think the one I routinely return to the most is probably the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as it remains just a magnificent place to stroll around and get lost in.
What do you always have next to your computer? At this stage, probably an external disc drive.
Where is the best view of the city? The one from my office.
What building or object do you want to redesign every time you see it? I genuinely loathe all the so-called “supertalls” (fuck you, yimby!), but there’s something particularly noxious about 432 Park Avenue. It was probably the first one of them to go up in Manhattan, and it’s just an artless rod that blocks out the sun and ruins the symetry of the cityscape. I have nothing but ill will for everyone who owns an apartment therein. Knock it the fuck down.
What’s one thing you would change about your field? I would make the calculation and quantification of royalties for artists from streaming platforms significantly fairer.
If you could live anywhere in New York City, where would it be? I genuinely love the neighborhood we live in, so I wouldn’t change that, but a couple more bedrooms would make life significantly simpler.
What would you hoard if it stopped being produced? I don’t know if the paltry amount I’ve already collected could be construed as “hoarding,” but I have three or four 160gb iPod Classics (one still pristinely wrapped) and would not be averse to picking up another, should the right opportunity present itself.
What do you do to get out of a creative rut? Go outside and walk around.
Where was your first NYC apartment and how much was the rent? Well, when I was born, we lived on East 89th Street between Lexington and Park Avenue. I have zero clue how much the rent was.
Where in the city do you go to be alone? If I “vant to be alone” Greta-Garbo-style, I go out for long walks. There are myriad places wherein to find solace and solitude in this teeming metropolis. You just have to know where the quiet streets are.
Worst piece of career advice you’ve ever gotten? “Let them call you,” or words to that effect. Anyone that tells you that playing hard-to-get is the way to land the job you want is fucking wrong. Be assertive. Let them KNOW your level of interest.
What have you given away to someone that you wish you could get back? When I got married and my wife “officially” moved into my apartment on East 12th Street, I put a lot of my stupid shit in storage and farmed off a few items to friends. My friend Rob now has my lovingly framed poster for the Ramones’ Road to Ruin album (featuring art by the great John Holmstrom), as well as a super-rare Cop Shoot Cop/Cows gig at CBGB (albeit NOT my Holy Grail poster). I honestly don’t have the wall space for either of them, anymore, but I do miss that Ramones poster something awful.
What’s your favorite NYC restaurant and regular order? I don’t honestly know that I could single out one, solitary restaurant as my very favorite. It depends on my mood, the company, the day of the week, etc. But for the sake of this post, I’ll pick Elephant & Castle on Greenwich Ave just steps to the south of West 11th Street, and my favorite dish there – although it was worryingly absent the last time I was there was the brunch favorite of poached eggs with pureed spinach on potato pancakes. Sheer joy on a plate.
What do you want your obit headline to be? “He’d have agreed with you, if you were right.”
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