Fergus McCormick has his music website up, timed to correspond with the release of his eponymously named debut album. I’m mentioning it because there are some pictures of mine on there for which I have a particular affinity. They were taken one late summer, I think it was 1999, on a pier off the lower west side of Manhattan. Fergus had discovered a blue Volkswagen Karmann Ghia parked on a rooftop there, just like the one in his song, so we headed over on a lazy Sunday afternoon for some photos. Franzi came along, and inevitably she ended up being in all the shots.

Afterwards we crossed the West Side Highway to do some daytime drinking at Ear Inn. It was hot and humid outside, so we drank our gin and tonics inside and drew patterns with crayons on the paper tabletops. By the time we exited into the sweltering darkness, buzzed, New York was humming, and I remember feeling like a character from The Great Gatsby, preternaturally aware of the special moment I inhabited, and all its possibilities…

Fergus’s songs are beautiful, by the way. You can listen to some of my favorites on his website, including Extremadura Love.