This post is from the JMBzine Blog Vault, which means it is a very old blog post that I wrote at a very different time of my life. My views on religion, politics, and many other subjects have drastically changed over the years, so please bear this in mind when reading this post. – I generally do not edit my past writings, except to fix obvious spelling and grammar issues, or to fix broken links (most often replacing with links to archive.org). I do add some more recent editorial updates (with dates), which are shown in blue and italicized.
Saturday, November 3, 2001
6:02 pm
Read my reviews of Cornerstone 2001 at www.exitzine.com
2023 Update: I enjoyed reading this blurb about my time at Cornerstone in 2001. I don’t think I ever updated the rest of the report so I’ll share a few more bits from this time. So, in the summer of 2001 I decided to take a trip to New York City. I had several motives for this trip: (1) to visit a law school (CUNY) that was I considering, (2) to see a friend who had just moved to NYC (and who I had a crush on), and (3) to have a grand adventure — spending a few days in NYC, then flying to Illinois for the Cornerstone Festival.
The law school visit was fine. I liked what I saw of CUNY law school, but it was also very clear that it would be nearly impossible for me to afford the cost of living in NYC, even if I went with Queens. The time with my friend was good too, but I also could see with clarity that romance wasn’t in the cards. As for the grand adventure part — that it definitely was. If I remember right, I stayed at the Gershwin Hotel (actually in one of their hostel rooms which were much cheaper) —which today is now called the Evelyn Hotel, which was very close the Empire State Building and the Flatiron building. I did a lot of good eating too, but probably my favorite meal was at Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem.
As for Cornerstone — I’m hoping I can find more notes from my time there, as I don’t remember as much about that year, but I did find confirmation of one memory (by way of the review link above):
After leaving the Calibretto show, I headed across the festival grounds to the food court to buy a delicious Rib-Eye sandwich from the folks at The Bushnell Locker (the local butcher shop). While walking through the mass of people, I carried my umbrella (bought a couple days previous in New York’s Chinatown for $3), since it was raining. Then suddenly, I felt an electric shock go through my umbrella. It wasn’t a strong jolt, but it was stronger than a static shock. Then–BOOM!!! Lightning struck fifty feet from me!
As far as I know, nobody was hurt by the incident, but everyone in the vicinity was shook-up, and many felt the shock like I did. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that C-stone experience!