Last Tango

Why should a city you've never been to have a pull on you? Buenos Aires has that pull on me, and I can't account for it. It is the pull that probably Berlin should have on me, except that I have somehow convinced myself to align with the South and the East, rather than the West.

What is that pull, exactly? Sadly, it's not from the tango, or from Boca Juniors. It is not borne out of Argentina's great plains stretching down to its foreboding, icy extremity. And as much as I love Borges, it is not born of the strange logic of Argentine literature.

It is, I suppose, finding that place that can re-name itself as Brooklyn, in its ease, urbanity, and pretense to artistry. So, it was with double delight, and I suppose, regret, having recently deferred my decision to leave New York City (once again) that JS, who is currently living the high-life in Buenos Aires, sent me this article from the New York Times, featuring an old friend from past lives. With a large picture of the man himself, engrossed in a dance. I'll quote at length:

Comparisons with other bohemian capitals are almost unavoidable. “It’s like Prague in the 1990s,” said Mr. Lampson, who is perhaps best known for winning a Bravo TV reality show, “Situation: Comedy,” in 2005, about sitcom writers. Despite his minor celebrity, he decided to forgo the Los Angeles rat race and moved to Buenos Aires, where he is writing an NBC pilot, along with his Web novela, www.historyandtheuniverse.com. “Buenos Aires is a more interesting place to live than Los Angeles, and it’s much, much cheaper. You can’t believe a city this nice is so cheap.”

If you haven't had a chance, check out the trailer (?) for David Lampson's History and the Universe, featuring, among others, John Wright. And why not me, Mr. Lampson? If all you needed was a man who could beat box?