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1/12/07, 5:45 pm EST

Assignment One Finalist: Mordechai Shinefield on Washington Heights, New York City

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Note: This is not an official Rolling Stone article. What follows is a submission to the “I’m From Rolling Stone” writing competition.

by Mordechai Shinefield
Age: 22

485, 187th Street. If a hall of apartments can be a local music scene, mine is the Dionysian nexus of Washington Heights. Ten different apartments, ten different contributions mixed over the linoleum and discarded cigarette butts that form a welcome mat for visitors. The French roommates across the hall listen to dance music like Together and Nightwolf - they dance by sliding across the floor in their underwear like Tom Cruise in Risky Business. Down the hall, Young Jeezy’s mixtape, bought at the corner of 186th and Saint Nick, has been playing non-stop until about two weeks ago, when DJ Green Lantern’s Fort Minor: We Major replaced it. One of the Encendio collections always thumps from passing cars, or from one of the apartments; high-pitched frenzied voices shouting in Spanish, a smooth beat hustling in the background. The reggaeton makes the car’s hood jump up, as though it too were dancing to the music. Down below our window, PPK - Russian trance - plays until the earliest hours of the morning. It dances around my own contribution, an X bootleg from the October 26th show in 1982. That is tonight. Tomorrow it will be Dylan flirting with Sean Paul, or Jack White duking it out with t.A.T.u. in the hallway. And sometimes, rarely, the music quiets to a hush, the words of the residents forming their own Phil Spector’esk layers of sound, against which contemplation sounds thick and nuanced. Then someone replaces the needle, hits the play button on their stereo, restarts their iPod playlist, and the music continues to play - late into the night.

-- Rolling Stone

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You see the real humanity in music, and that makes it beautiful.

K-mac | 4/4/2007, 9:21 am EST

i like music, and as it happens i like good writing, therefore i like this article. p.s if ever fight broke out between sean paul and the bobster, scrawny bob would win hands down…why? u may ask… i had a dream bout it. (do i put in too many commas in my posts?)

Hannah | 4/2/2007, 11:15 am EST

i loved it, ‘Then someone replaces the needle, hits the play button on their stereo, restarts their iPod playlist, and the music continues to play - late into the night.’ good stuff indeed

yang | 4/1/2007, 12:43 pm EST

this does invoke some vivid images

gzza | 2/14/2007, 8:02 pm EST

ummm I don’t like it. Linoleum, cigarette butts.. welcome mat. Street names and what not playing on to the NYC hoopla way of thinking. Tom Cruise? What are you doing to me? Is that what being a writer is all about these days? Who can come up with the best metaphor to portray a vision or isn’t the writing it self supposed to do that.
just being a jerk. you have good style.

Josh | 1/22/2007, 3:50 pm EST

This article really makes you feel like you are walking through the halls of his apartment buliding. I really like it!

Chrys | 1/19/2007, 5:53 pm EST

Great job! And congrats! One of my good freinds lives in Washington Heights, and strangely I have never heard anyone playing music in her building. Yours sounds so interesting, and like a real cultural mix. I really liked hearing what you’re listening to. The piece would be missing one of its flavors without it.

I like B’s suggestion too : )

Mordy | 1/19/2007, 2:35 pm EST

I totally second B’s suggestion.

B | 1/19/2007, 11:59 am EST

You should put this article and the honorable mentions in your magazine.

ruggs | 1/19/2007, 9:50 am EST

new york doesn’t have the best music scene, new york has NO music scene. that’s why this essay is meaningful. the cultural microcosms will always make new york what it is. the “scene” died when real estate gentrification and luring in yuppies became more important than preserving collective culture (thanks giuliani/bloomberg). r.i.p. wetlands, brownies, luna lounge, continental, cbgb’s, the list goes on and on and on…

Dolly | 1/18/2007, 7:26 pm EST

I really dig the bit about the different music “battling”, dylan vs. sean paul is a great image. Good work.

Dare To Hear A Fool | 1/18/2007, 12:57 pm EST

a very interesting take on the music scene in your area; only you would have though of your immediate environment. well done!

Zach | 1/18/2007, 4:19 am EST

Kudos on a well-written essay Mordechai. Having been in Europe for the last month, and living in Ohio for school, the sights and sounds of the city are rejuvinated in my hands thanks to you. Well done.

MissQueenDionne | 1/17/2007, 10:34 pm EST

i have a very clear image of what u are talking about. NYC has the best music scene!

Mordy | 1/17/2007, 3:42 pm EST

Lede is the journalism way of spelling lead (meaning: beginning, leading off, etc). Because it used to be that they used lead to print newspapers. So they used the alternate spelling to distinguish between the mineral and the first sentence of an article.

baba o riley | 1/17/2007, 2:59 pm EST

“lede? nut? lede quote? journalistic features? uhhh”

hope you’re being sarcastic because none of that crap matters when you’re writing from the heart. and what the hell is “lede?”

The Real Crystal | 1/17/2007, 12:10 pm EST

Congrats and great job. I can really see what you are writing about.

L M records | 1/15/2007, 4:43 pm EST

I like how this feature was not based on actual bands performing in the area, but the diversity of sound coming from one apartment building.

Michael Daniels | 1/15/2007, 4:11 am EST

I’ve been voulenteering in israel for the past 5 monthes and missing NYC (that pricey whore) like i miss my own mother (that lovely lady). Mordechai - you brought me back to the hood, and it feels damn great. Bravo!

... | 1/15/2007, 2:20 am EST

lede? nut? lede quote? journalistic features? uhhh

Anonymous | 1/15/2007, 12:43 am EST

Definitely my favorite? What is it about the ending that captures you?

O.M. | 1/14/2007, 11:21 pm EST

Coming from Washington Heights I know how apartments flaunt their music as if it was either competition or a scream of freedom. These Pre war buildings hold massive culture amongst their walls, and Mordechi did a great job of letting everyone know.

Benzalek | 1/14/2007, 9:34 pm EST

Not only do you capture the diverse flavors of the NY neighborhood, but with humor and affection for the musical souls that inhabit it! I’m a fan!

Sall-M | 1/14/2007, 5:20 pm EST

I love the ending. Great!

Auburn | 1/12/2007, 10:31 pm EST

Another of my favorites- narrative and descriptive without losing focus on the subject. I know the area well, and your writing took me there.

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Assignment One Finalist: Mordechai Shinefield on Washington Heights, New York City

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