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It was the summer of 1991 when my ex, Eddie, and I traveled to New York. This was my first trip to the Big Apple, though he had been many times. It was the era of Mayor Dinkins and Times Square was a shell of its current glory or, pretty much a shit hole laced with drugs, prostitutes, and porn theaters.



One of the most memorable moments when we landed was "Gypsy Woman' blaring out the speakers in our cab heading to Manhattan. I had never heard it as it didn't sound like typical Top 40 fare. Its catchy house beat, and organ grinder riff with the artist singing "la da dee, la dee da" made it one of those songs that just stuck in my head as Eddie and I romped around the city waiting for our friend Margie to get off work. The artist was newcomer Crystal Waters.



The following evening, Eddie and I were on our own, and in a sign of poor judgment (or naiveté about New York at night during this period), we hopped on a train at midnight and headed toward the Village to go to a club called Monster that had been recommended to us earlier in the day. Eddie had to pee, so we got off in Times Square only to find the restrooms closed at that time of night. So he had to do a quicky behind some pillars. The subway station was dark, dank, and very eery. A stranger was walking towards us while I hurried him along to finish his business. The next train shows up and we were out of there!



Once we got to the Monster we walked in at street level and were introduced to a massive piano bar with folks singing along to old Olivia Newton-John songs.