Tuesday night. A scallywag decked out in green with tequila coursing through his veins. A bar in the lower east side named after an ancient Indian text. Hip Hop music blasting all around, and Macy Gray enrapturing the crowds. All’s I can do is hope to survive the night.
It’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’ve just been given a shiny new zippo that says “LUCKY” on it. The camel rep says it’s her last one and coincidentally enough I’ve just used my last match outside. Joey Rubin is standing by as a thick forest grows from the crevices and cracks of the room. Vines adorned with blue leaves, palm trees with orange tops, green grass below my WWI boots, and before I even know what’s going on, in stomps Macy Gray like a beast from Where The Wild Things Are. Fresh from her performance at the UN for Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, Macy dropped in Sutra to jump on the one twos for a midnight mix to the crowd’s delight.
Sutra’s owner, and New York native, Ariel Palitz has just arrived from LA and has been trying to get Miss Gray to come by for over a year. Her 1st avenue and 1st street bungalow has over the past five years become one of the cities premier destinations for Hip Hop music. Ariel, of Russian and Turkish decent, is more than happy to accommodate and give Hip Hop a positive home without all of the negative stereo types associated with it.
