Funnily enough I wrote this email two years ago, almost to the day and saved it in my drafts. Two years later, I am about to embark on the same journey. Â I thought I would share my thoughts from this note I created for some of my best friends and family and a nyc experience I had in the east village from 2010.. Maybe it will brighten the road ahead for some of you.Â
As I get ready to move into a new space I wonder "what is my check list to happiness?" What am I setting out to find? Â More space? More freedom to do arts and crafts? To entertain? Â To be "an adult" and purchase adult furniture? What type of space will I feel comfortable to grow and develop - as I have now expounded upon these "important years of my 30's." We must find the perfect apartment to begin life, right?!?Â
I met this nice man Sunday evening. His name is Anthony Pisano. He is my neighbor — kind of. He lives on 7th between 1st and Ave A.  I passed by on my way home earlier this evening as he had John Coltrane playing out the front door and I stopped to survey the situation, peaking inside, but not actually entering, until he emerged from the shadows and greeted me with a healthy, welcoming smile and peaceful soul.  He said, jovially, "Well hello there,"  then he said. He held out his hand. I obliged and welcomed his handshake. I looked him in the eye as he complimented my handshake, "You must have gotten that from your father." he said with a smile.  I said, "Thank you sir." I will tell him.  We chatted. I asked if this was a jazz bar or his apartment?  He said, "Please you are welcome to investigate yourself..."  my first instinct (to decline and walk away-this is ny you know!) was disengaged by his insistence to remain outside while I browsed the premise.  He repeated I will be out here and he pointed again and encouraged me with his trusting eye's. I accepted and stepped into his apartment. The nicknacks and chachki's — you wouldn't believe his collection if I told you. Not distasteful at all — like a well preserved music hall of fame and antique shop. Tony's apartment is a storefront and he has been there for 32 years and here is the kicker - he has never sold a thing (he told me that before I left giggling).  He used to rent the cafe next door and the apartment above — he told me.  "But I didn't need them anymore..."  (the article says the same)! Â
Pisano has played music (Jazz) with the "best of the them…" raised his family there and now lives alone insisting that he's there to greet passers-by.  He has a piano in his 8x8 kitchen, behind his twin bed in his 4x6 living space and on the other-side (of the piano) is an iron stove and fairly small but decadent kitchen complete with chopping block a kitchen table for one and hefty pots and pans assorted on the wall.  I could smell the italian food he just made for dinner.  It was a great ny experience.  I looked through his pictures of him when he was a young pop jazz artist, playing with John Coltrane. I stepped back out onto his front stoop and asked him about it.  Pisano responded with,  "That wasn't my greatest accomplishment — it's those over there"  pictures of him and his family on the stoop, hanging out. Â
I stepped out again (on the stoop) and he said, "What a lovely voice, young lady, do you sing?"  I said, "I love to sing, but not in front of people." He said, "Oh, why not?"  I said, "I am too shy." I admitted my attempts of becoming a blues singer in college and he greeted that with an immediate and reassuring, "Well, you have got to try again!" Tony asked, "Can you read music?"  I said "Yes, but I'm a bit rusty". He said, "Do you have a piano?"  I said, "No sir."  He responded, "You do now!"  as he pointed to his kitchen.  I told him, "Oh thank you so much, but I couldn't bother…"  he continued to tell me a story of this german couple that stopped by recently — the lady's father used to be a painter and has no desire to paint any longer.  He went into his storefront apartment and brought her a tiny paint brush, handed it to her and said, "Give this to him. Tell him to draw a line or a circle and seeÂ
what happens." Â The women called him when she returned to Germany and said that her father drew the circle and smiled."
Sorry I didn't proofread this all that much, it's late so I apologize for the grammatical errors and the potential overuse of quotes — however, it was a moment of inspiration in my neighborhood, in the East village.  A man that lives his life for the arts and music, is happy within his means, in a humble space he calls his home and wants to encourage others to experience the greatest gifts of all-their inner artist... (regardless of how decadent or modest their lives are)Â
blakekathryn
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
turnnoffyourmind
tangentwithtanner
izzy806
amandla