I LOVE NY. Everyone says it. It's a popular expression that has a history of its own:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_New_York

I grew up in Queens, NY and have been living in Brooklyn for 8 years now. Frank Sinatra sang that 'if he can make it there, he'd make it anywhere.' People all over the world want to visit if not move to NY. Why? What's with the fascination with it?

It's not the easiset place to make it happen. NY is the most expensive US city to live in. It's the most difficult on rent payers in the entire country. Traffic is at an all-time high. The air quality is terrible. Property taxes and insurance rates are astronomical. So again, why are people fascinated with NY?

Well, to visit NY is like visiting a 24-hour restaurant or club. You can eat, commute, attend an event, see a movie, or do pretty much anything around the clock. It truly is the city that never sleeps. Who wouldn't wanna visit a place like that?

As far as living in NY what's the biggest motivation to do so? OPPORTUNITY. Fashion, media, entertainment, financial, self-proprietorship...whatever. There are so many job and career opportunities here. The headquarters of so many major businesses and office buildings reside here. With the exception of the TV/film industry, which Los Angeles dominates, you can get just about anything else accomplished in NY. But guess what. There are 9 million people living here...and lots of competition. So while there are opportunities, there are so many people striving after the same thing. This creates the interesting problem of having to:

1. Maintain a standard of living/survival by securing enough income to cover your basic necessities
2. Having enough time to pursue your desired job/career
3. Having the proper means and strategy to do so

This is the template that should be followed. Otherwise you will find yourself stressing out on a daily basis, and then blaming NY for all of your problems. NY is what it is, there's no surprise. It's not a land flowing with milk and honey, or Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. You gotta understand the game, play by the rules, move up in the system, then defeat it by allowing things to be on your own terms. Too many people fall into the trap of thinking that things will automatically just happen for them.

I love the great things NY has to offer but that's still not the biggest reason why I love this place. For those of you that have read my previous blogs or browsed my page, you know that I'm a professional musician/singer/songwriter. I've expressed very personally how I've felt during certain moments of my experiences. I had another great experience Friday night. January 25th, 2008. The WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden in of course, New York City. I had been looking forward to this date for months. I've been on tour with Latin artist Alejandro Sanz for a while now but now we were to perform in front of my home crowd. I'm also a die-hard Knicks fan and they were playing upstairs from us at the same time. They won that game. Midway into our set, Latin superstar Marc Anthony jumps on stage to Alejandro's surprise. All 5000 people go wild! He had a mic in his hand but barely sang, as he was in awe of the moment himself, sharing the stage with the living legend, Alejandro. J-Lo was waving from the audience, as well as other stars that came out.

Everyone wants to or talks about their experience of playing at Madison Square Garden. Michael Jordan, Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, Wilis Reed, etc...There's something magical about it. It's kind of like the world's stage. I've played the Garden a few times with different artists and it's always been a momentous experience, but Friday night was special. To play this music in front of your "family" is unbelievable. Whenever we've performed anywhere else in the world, I am connecting with the audience in front of me as well as the audience that's not in front of me. I'm playing for people that are special to me in my heart, or thinking of what it's like to play in front of the home crowd. I carry that with me.

NY came through. The energy was high and it was something I will not forget. Thank you NY.

I LOVE U.


Peace & blessings,
-S-