My trip to NYC is going quite well. Day one – I saw Fela the Musical & was blown away!  If you can get to NYC before it ends on Jan 2nd, I highly recommend seeing this show And Patti Labelle is in it. Need I say more???

Day two – I made a trip to B&H & got broke in the process but it was all good. Picked up a few things that I needed & wanted. So this means that I’m a happy camper!!!!!  After making it rain in B&H, I had an awesome power lunch with some of my NY/NJ photographer friends at Bourbon Street Bar & Grill.

The lunch was set for noon & ended for hours later. It was VERY fun! [No trip is ever complete without a meet up.]

After the meet up, the family & I headed to Little Italy for a late dinner at Caffe Napoli (another favorite). Dinner was great as usual but I was looking forward to getting back to the room to decompress.

One the walk to the subway, I walked upon a fight with cab driver and some mofo on the street. Before their verbal argument ended, the guy on the streets yelled “FUCK YOU NIGGER.”  When I heard that, I snapped and got all up in his grill.

I let a lot of things slide & although, he was not talking to me, he was. When ever you use that kind of language, you have to be ready to deal with the consequences & I gave it to him.  One of my goals for yesterday was not shutting down a racist but I had to do it. Just had to.

During my confrontation with him, he tried to explain that he was not a racist & that he had Black friends. How many times have we heard that line???

I told him to pick up a book & was like if your people were enslaved for 300+ years he would feel differently. By the time I was done, he actually apologized.

Don’t let the light skin fool you boo cause I will check the first mutha that tries to go there!

OK, so that was that, then I get to my hotel only to have to deal with the couple next door fighting. The man was beating the woman & threw her against the wall. I could not take the screaming & her crying out NO NO NO, STOP RILEY. The kids were in shock….  I called the front desk.

Security officers came up to talk to them for a few minutes then they left. The woman stayed. The rest of the night was silent.

Talk about sticky situations…

Day three – I walked to Strawberry Fields in Central Park.  It was a nice 25 block walk that was refreshing & calming. It’s something about the energy there!

I was surprised to see so many people out but the Imagine mosaic was crowded like never before with people from everywhere.

After the walk, I strolled around the park taking in the scenes & people watching. Always interesting to see a man walking a Himalayan cat while they are wearing matching crocheted outfits!

Later in the evening, I made my way to the GE Building to go to the Top of the Rock to enjoy sunset over the city.  It was a cool way to send a few hours.  Yes, it was cold but I was in a zone. A good space.

The evening ended with a wonderful dinner & live music at Victor’s Café. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME.

Part way through the dinner, we started to get messages from friends & family about a huge snowstorm coming through.

Bottom line is, I will be having an additional day in this great city as I refuse to drive through a blizzard to get back to Michigan. It’s just not that deep.

Day four – I’m hoping the remainder of my time will be drama free but you know me & how I get into the most random of messes!!!

By the way, I’ve been meeting tons of celebrities!