Mary Anne Rose lectures at Chez Gentry event at Amistad Center @ Wadsworth Atheneum on 11 July

On Wednesday, 21 June I would visit the Parish Gallery in Georgetown as the unofficial photographer for the Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog who had posted information pertaining to the Fifteen Years: Six of Six Exhibition at the Parish Gallery, which includes 5 works by Herb Gentry, who for many years was a resident at the Hotel Chelsea. A day later I would receive an email from Mary Anne Rose, the widower of Herb Gentry, informing me of an 11 July Chez Gentry event at the The Amistad Center for Art & Culture Wadsworth Atheneum that she will be the featured lecturer. When I would receive her email on the evening of 22 June not only was I in the midst of mailing photographic material to contacts that I had made in South Boston VA over the weekend of 16 - 18 June during which time I would photograph the Juneteenth Celebration at Berry Hill Plantation but I was was gearing up for a weekend trip to NYC to photograph the NYC Gay Pride Festival. So, I did not have too much time to get the word out about 11 July Chez Gentry event at Hartford CT's Wadsworth Atheneum.

I got the photographic material in the mail just in time to catch up with Ken and Mark for our Friday evening drive to NYC. We'd depart from WDC around 5 PM and arrive in NYC around 10:30 PM. It would rain for much of the weekend, sporadically. When Mark, Ken and I would leave from Arthur and Michael's apartment at the corner of 9th Avenue and 22nd Street in Chelsea on Sunday morning, at around 11 AM, en route to our respective locations, there were a few sprinkles. Mark and Ken would brunch at The Dish on 8th Avenue in Chelsea before heading to 5th Avenue and 22nd Street and I would head down to the Village. In search of a light brunch before the parade reached the Village and to avoid the pending rain shower, I'd veer inside of a cafe at the corner of the Avenue of the Americas and _______.

As I walked inside of the cafe I observed Stanley Crouch sitting at a table in the company of two people. Though we have never met before, we exchanged eye contact as if we had. It was not unlike a greeting amongst colleaques. I, almost, walked over to his table to inquire if he had heard of the 11 July Chez Gentry event at the Wadsworth Atheneum at the Amistad Center in Hartford CT.

But like a true NYer, at heart, I did not feel that it would be appropriate for me to interrupt his conversation. And, yet, if I had, I know that he would have been appreciative and would not have felt that I was interferring. A few days ago, I'd see Stanley Crouch in an interview with Tavis Smiley discussing his recent book "Considering Genius, Writings on Jazz". I would then reflect on the fact that I wished that I had spoken with Stanley Crouch regarding the 11 July Chez Gentry event.

The menu at the cafe, consisting mostly bagels and the like, was too limited for my appetite, at that moment in time. So, I would thank the waitresses behind the counter for her time and said that I would visit the cafe again. Which I will when I visit NYC again.

Though I can not now recall the name of the cafe, what I do remember is that it is located next door to what was once The Tiffany. Which is now a bit more upscale and too high priced than what I remember The Tiffany to have been for the many years that Frank and I would eat there.

Opening on 22 December 2005 Moved by Music: Herbert Gentry paintings, prints, and drawings will be on display at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art through 29 October 2006. It is an exhbition that would fit very well into the scheme of things at the Berry Hill Plantation Resort in South Boston VA. Though recently sold, the Berry Hill Plantation, in recent years, would house one of the most progressive french culinary schools in the world where french chefs were sent for an intensive training program. What better place to exhibit the work of Herbert Gentry than at a world class plantatation resort ...

And the 11 July Chez Gentry event certainly would be an event that would be of interest to Stanley Crouch. I now wished that I had said something to him. The next time that I am in a similar situation, I will not walk away wishing that I had ...