Xplane, our New Yorker of the Month for August 2010

Ask a New Yorker: How are you doing my friend?

Xplane: Do I look like a New Yorker of the month?

Ask a New Yorker: You most certainly do. What’s kicking?

Xplane: I’m here. I’m working here on 14th Street and 8th Ave, my spot for 12 years, feeling very New Yorkish. I’m putting together a CVS drugstore that nobody wants.

Ask a New Yorker: This is going to be a serious CVS.

Xplane: Yes it is. The building was built in 1897, built for a bank but apparently it’s going to sell drugs.

Ask a New Yorker: Lucky landlord.

Xplane: Very lucky landlord. He’s been through a lot though. It’s been closed for a whole year. I guess the rent will be appropriate.

Ask a New Yorker: What’s up with the congo drum?

Xplane: That’s actually for my youngest son Xplane. It’s a nice surprise for him. He plays drums so I got him a nice congo.

Ask New Yorker: Nice side table here. Too bad it has a piece of plywood nailed to its top.

Xplane: It was just a dresser. I came to work one morning and I was cleaning up in the front. And it just appeared. It just sat there and I said, ‘Wow, it’s pretty nice, I should take it inside’. Now it’s my contractor’s desk.

Ask a New Yorker: Rescued.

Xplane: I also rescued this doll house. One similar was shown on the Antique Road Show a few weeks ago from the same person that made this one. I also found some Mozart records right in front of the building too. Somebody likes me.

Ask a New Yorker: I like the clock in the back. I take it it’ll be restored?

Xplane: We’re hoping to restore it. We do have the hands. So hopefully that will happen.

Ask a New Yorker: Where did you grow up?

Xplane: I grew up in Brooklyn New York, Brownsville to be exact. I was born on the 3 train Brooklyn bound in 1978. This is probably why my son loves the train so much. He knows all the stops. He’s aware of every train station. He also knows the location of train stations when we’re driving.

Xplane brings me up to his office.

Xplane: Sometimes the building feels like it has a ghost. It turns things off. It turns things on. I just try my best to live with it, the best I can.

Ask a New Yorker: Back to your son and the geography lesson.

Xplane: One day I was in my home and I heard my son reading each individual train station and it really got my attention because he knew all of them without looking. I was like,’wow, what can I do for him?’ So I decided on his birthday that I would take him on every train and every stop. So that’s what we did. We got up one early morning. He was excited. He was looking forward to it. I decided to take him on every single train.

Ask a New Yorker: How long did that take?

Xplane: Five months. We had to schedule it so that we could pick up certain trains skip stops, certain trains go express. It was a lot strategy and planning involved. But we got it done and we we’re very excited about it. He was the happiest kid I’ve ever seen. He means the world to me. He’s Xplane Jr.

Ask a New Yorker: Xplane is a usual name. Is it a family name?

Xplane: Xplane started out as a name of an unknown plane of existence. So with that being said, I kind of felt myself with a name that I had to live up to. I know the word ‘explain’ is usually a verb but for me it’s a noun. So with that being said I had to not only provide action but I had to be a person. So I created the double element of being a noun and a verb which helps me become a song writer and a performing artist. As I live the life of Xplane I’m also living the life of a person who is full of action and that’s how I explain a noun being a verb.

Ask a New Yorker: Are these the records you found?

Xplane: One day I came to work to start my morning and somebody left a big box of records downstairs, incredible stuff. This here is a complete Mozart set from 1938.
Ask a New Yorker: Do you have a favorite Mozart piece?

Xplane: My favorite is the Symphony in G Minor. If there’s a word for controversial music without words this is it. The more you listen to it the more you begin to understand it. Mozart is one of my favorites. Here’s an Anton Bruckner. If you’re looking for peace this is the kind of record you want. Now if you’re looking for happiness I would recommend this record right here which is called: Dr Buzzards original Savannah Band. This is a 1970’s album from the Bronx, New York. They are best known for their #1 US dance hit, "Cherchez la femme"/C'est si bon, They were frequent performers at the infamous Studio 54.

Ask a New Yorker: Let’s talk about your music.

Xplane: Well, I have a lot of songs. But one of my most well known songs is a song called, ‘Without Spinach Popeye Gets Black Eyes’. One day my two sons and I were sitting watching Popeye. And I told them that Popeye should eat his spinach all the time then he wouldn’t have this problem with getting beaten up by Brutus. I was trying to promote them to eat spinach. And I said, ‘without spinach Popeye gets black eyes’, so I automatically went into my writer mode and I talked to them a little longer and wrote the song that night. My kids eat a lot more spinach now do to that song.

Ask a New Yorker: Thank you Xplane. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

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