Our Renaissance. The re-birth we all experienced post lockdown, the butterflies bursting from their crusty old cocoons (that actually needed to be busted up a so we could escape!). In retrospect (the PTSD we really all maybe haven’t dealt with notwithstanding), the Covid Lockdown Incident was a collective opportunity for self-reflection, a re-direction of priorities that had so many of my New York artist friends and peers either moving back to Ohio or deciding to Bucket List their way through the rest of their lives. The bungee jumping, traveling to Iceland and micro-dosing on mushrooms have become so normalized that questioning a person’s post-lockdown motives seems rude, over-the top-judgmental and totally insensitive.
After all, The Renaissance came after the Black Plague, where so much death and suffering prompted an exlposion of interest in science, art and literature. Eclipsed was the medieval idea that we are only here to live for heaven, the so-called after life. Oh hell no! What about now? Life is happening now! So said the gin-guzzling, Charleston-dancing, shing-a-ling fringe-wearing flappers and dapper Dons, so traumatized by the Spanish Influenza pandemic of the early 20th century that their hedonism left them no choice but to drink, dance and spend their way into the great crash of 1929. I mean, you only live once.
“YOLO” is what the kids are calling this phillosophy nowadays, and I am all for feeling YOLO real hard! Boy, was I a rat in this maze. One of those throngs of hopeful doe-eyed youths who moved to big sparkling New York City with a dream, only to find themselves scrambling so hard to earn a decent living, that the dream itself seemed to become lost in a haze of pale yellow city smog. However, through my own personal great depression of 2020-2022, one thing never changed for me; songwriting is the therapy and the solution for all that ails, always and forever. I highly recommend this as medicine, because suddenly it didn’t seem as though my career momentum had not been interrupted by a virus at all. That in fact, perhaps a mental reset was just what Doctor Universe ordered!
And so, I’m gonna g’head and switch up my Blog format for a spell. See, normally I’d post annoying pics of me on vacation or on a writers’ retreat, disperse a laundry list of projects I am working on, and pay tribute to those of my friends and artists who have passed on. I’m feeling less careless with my feelings and observations, quite frankly much more guarded now than I was before Covid. I think I speak better through creativity for the time being. Maybe that will change. Or maybe not. Post-Pandemic thoughts reside in my songwriting, and I thought Broadway was the right style for this tune. Rough Demo ensues…
“NEW YORK CITY DAZE” written and performed by David James Boyd, copyright 2020
CAUGHT IN A NEW YORK CITY DAZESTUCK IN MY GAY OLD 90’S WAYSI’M LOSING TRACK OF YEARS OF DAYSCLOCK IN A JOB THAT BARELY PAYS HERE IN MY…NEW YORK CITY DAZEANOTHER RAT CAUGHT IN THE MAZEAS MY SKIN WRINKLES MY HAIR GREYSAT EVERY BUFFET I JUST GRAZEAND ORDER EXTRA MAYONAISEHERE IN MY…NEW YORK CITY DAZECOME ON, BROADWAY, MUSICAL THEATER, WHEN’S IT ALL COMIN’ TO ME?IN SOME ODD WAY I ALWAYS NEW THEATERWOULD NEVER EVER GET ME SYMPATHY...LET ALONE TEATHE DRAG QUEEN SERVES IT AND SASHAYSMY EYES JUST SERVE AN EMPTY GAZEI USED TO DRESS LIKE ALL THE GAYSOBSERVING EVERY CRAZE AND PHRASENOW IN MY NEW YORK CITY DAYSI PICTURED LYING ON MY CHAISEAWARDS MY DRESSING ROOM DISPLAYSON STAGE THE MUSIC PLAYS AND PLAYSMY NAME IN LIGHTS GLOWS ALL ABLAZETHE BEST OF NEW YORK CITY DAYS!COME ON TIMES SQUARE, COME ON SARDI’SDOES THE DREAM GET LOST HERE IN OUR HEADS?THEN WHEN I GET THERE, THE BEST PART ISTHE CRITICS SITTING RIPPING ME TO SHREDS!YOU POUND THE PAVEMENT ’TIL YOUR TITS ARE SOREYOUR BODY QUIVERS FOR SO MUCH MOREARE YOU AN ARTIST OR A CATERING WHORE?WELL THE CITY ALWAYS SETTLES THE SCORE!SO IS THE DREAM LOST IN A HAZE? CAN I INSPRE AND AMAZEAM I TOO OLD FOR MORE DELAYS?DO WE RESIGN TO OUR CLICHE’S? NO, NO!HOWEVER HEAVY MY HEART WEIGHSSEARCHING FOR PRAISE THAT NEVER STAYS…ANYWAY(S)!HERE IN MY…NEW YORK…(STEP KICK JAZZ HANDS)…CITY…(BIG FINISH)…DAAAAAYS…CITY DAZE!(FOSSE HEAD DOWN)
With love and all my heart,
David
djb