i’ve had some friends and family members asking me why i’ve chosen to remain in new york city. well, i’ll try to explain as best as i can.
for starters, this is my home. this is where i was born. that might sound provincial, but on some level i feel an almost biological grounding to this city. and this is where my friends live. and there are great restaurants here. and i can get soy milk and organic juice at my corner deli at 5 a.m. and the dog runs. and i can walk everywhere. and the weather’s good. and, perhaps most importantly, this is where my studio is. i have to live where i work. i have to live where my studio is. i honestly couldn’t bear the thought of leaving nyc and not being able to work in my studio. my life and my health are important to me, but the ability to work on music in my studio is, strangely, more important. as sad or odd as this might sound, in my eyes my life has less meaning and vitality when i’m not working on music.
so i know that i probably should’ve left nyc for a little while after the attack. but i wanted to stay here and work and show solidarity for the city of my birth. this city has given me so much. it’s in many ways made me who i am as a person and as a musician. so the idea of leaving my birth city in it’s hour of need felt wrong to me.
maybe i’m just sentimental, i don’t know. but i live here.
and this is where i make music. and i love it here. so that’s why i stayed and will continue to stay. i know that great things happen in other cities and in other countries, and i know that other places and cities are safer right now, but, and i’m proud to say this, this is my home. i live where my heroes (marcel duchamp, john lennon, david bowie, herman melville, etc) have chosen to live. in fact, one day in the early 20th century marcel duchamp climbed to the top of the washington square arch and had lunch with friends and made an official declaration that new york city was now a sovereign state, a country of it’s own. and in a weird way that’s how i feel and that’s why i remain a citizen of new york city.
provincially yours,
-moby
