On Demand
Alignment
By David Garland
June 6, 2008
Monday evening I stepped out of MoMA at just the right moment to see the blazingly spectacular alignment of New York’s grid of streets with the setting sun. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium, calls this Manhattanhenge. I happened to have my camera with me, so I caught the moment.
Sometimes our presence aligns with an event. Sometimes intent and opportunity align in our lives. Sometimes our emotions align with another’s. Sometimes a meal aligns with our hunger. Sometimes Democrats align with one candidate. Sometimes the music on your radio aligns with your mood or activity. What alignments are you experiencing?
Manhattanhenge is expected again on Saturday, July 12 at 8:25 p.m., and Friday, July 11 at 8:24 p.m.
Watch NOVA scienceNOW on Manhattanhenge
Comments
Comment from Joe Corrao
Date: June 6, 2008, 8:42 pm
Hey heard u talk about MOCCA earlier this week, which will be this weekend at the Puck Bldg…its a great convention, u really get to meet the creators up close. My friend Mike Dawson and his newly released graphic novel will be there “Freddie and Me”…about moving to NJ from the UK and really liking the rock band Queen (thats the dumbed down synopsis)…
http://www.mikedawsoncomics.com/blog/
Kind of like a music thing so I thought I’d give it a shout on the blog here!
Comment from Joe Corrao
Date: June 6, 2008, 8:43 pm
Nice pictures btw!
Comment from rayna
Date: June 6, 2008, 9:48 pm
David, I am always aligned with your show - and miss your presence on Evening Music beyond words.
Tonight, as I listen to - Aaron Copland, I am always reminded how aligned his voice is with Leonard Bernstein’s and with Gershwin’s. I hear all of them in the piece you are playing tonight as I work in my art studio. If it a piece I have not heard before, sometimes I can barely tell which one of these composers I am listening to - until a phrase or combination of notes makes it clear. Thank you for playing pieces that are fresh, no matter when they were written.
Comment from David K
Date: June 6, 2008, 9:59 pm
What will archeologists say about Manhattanhenge 1,000 or more years from now? Will they think we were more clever that we were, I wonder? That we somehow aligned the skyscrapers in just such a way to signal the coming of summer and that it was time to line up for something called the “Hamptons Jitney”? Will DeWitt Clinton, the originator of the grid plan, be heralded as some druid priest?
Won’t it take the wind out of their sails to realize that, no, the skyscrapers were there to herald nothing more than commercial profit and status and not to worship nature and celebrate the harvest.
Makes you wonder what they were really up to in Stonehenge. I was at Newgrange, NW of Dublin, Ireland, a few years ago and the guide went on about the sun aligning just right at the solstice as the light hit the Bronze Age mound at a certain angle. Was it a stroke of pre-historic engineering genius? Pagan mysticism? Or did they just want to build a mound on a nice piece of real estate and enjoy a nice view?
Thanks for the Hulk music and the hysterically dry commentary. You really helped me forget my troubles (though not my cynicism) by triggering memories of my childhood television viewing habits. Normally triggered memories of my childhood don’t help me forget my troubles, but in this case they did. Thanks.
Best wishes,
David
Comment from Sarita Roy
Date: June 20, 2008, 11:15 am
This is a “thank you” for a moment you gave me years ago, when I was driving home one night from work. Unfortunately I don’t remember the one piece you were queing up, but you told your listeners that while we were listening to Pachibel’s Canon, you were queing up a piece of music, sung by a group of women, many worlds away from here. It turned out, as you listened to them, that their singing was in perfect sync with the Pachibel’s Canon we were listening to. You then gave all your listeners the gift of hearing them simulaneously. I remember driving home, tired, in the dark, with that beautiful integration of cultures and harmonies. I will never forget it. Thank you. Sarita Roy
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