Spring Happenings
The final weeks and days of winter and the beginning ones of spring granted this author a few opportunities to meet new readers and continue to promote Midnight Rambles: H. P. Lovecraft in Gotham. Along the way, I witnessed a small bohemia still thriving amid the wealth of Manhattan. A thrilling encounter to be certain.
In February, the band Lulu Lewis invited me to participate in their multi-week artist residency at the Two Bridges Luncheonette, a restaurant and performance space in Dimes Square, a small neighborhood on the edge of Chinatown and evoking the aura of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, of several decades past. I warmed up the crowd with a presentation on H. P. Lovecraft and New York City. Then, the musicians took the stage. It was inspiring to be part of an evening highlighting both words and music and demonstrating that creativity and art still maintain a foothold in Manhattan.
March 3, 2024, marked the centenary of Lovecraft moving to New York to wed Sonia H. Greene in 1924. Brooklyn Brainery hosted me to lead a conversation on the gentleman from Providence and his adventures in the five boroughs several days after this anniversary. The group and I discussed Lovecraft’s relationship with the city and his literary afterlife blocks away from a pair of his favorite Brooklyn haunts–Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Proving that my mind can focus on subjects other than controversial and deceased horror writers, I penned a review of A Good Place to Do Business: The Politics of Downtown Renewal Since 1945, a recent book by Mark H. Rose and Roger Biles, for The Metropole, the blog of the Urban History Association. I’m also noodling with a few possible writing projects, but I’m still uncertain if any of these might develop beyond my initial scribblings. We shall see.
With the longer days and milder weather, I’m hoping to step away from my desk and return to the wider world or, at least, the slice of it within the metropolitan region. If you have any suggestions for the spring, please pass them along. This writer needs a new adventure.