..July 2007 New York..
I first met the beautiful Julie Atlas Muz, outside a New York nightclub on a hot July afternoon. I had been trying to arrange a photo with the famed siren for months. Her illusiveness and non-stop circling of the globe forced me to patiently wait 6 months for this opportunity. Down the long corridors of the west side, Julie came swooping down riding her rusty 1970’s green bicycle. This was the first glance I had of the proclaimed “Mermaid.”
In the damp cavernous labyrinth called the Coral Room, Julie prepared to swim in her fish tank. The dim gradient light from the top of the tank made me feel as if I were at the bottom of the ocean. I stood at the foot of the massive 100,000 gallon fish tank as the mermaid slowly descended from the top of the tank. The water currents slowly smooth. The tranquil water was only disturbed when the colorful red and yellow tropical fish dart past the nude mermaid. I watched the mermaid float for hours in the intimate surroundings of this underwater oasis in the middle of New York. I heard no sound, only the slightest splash of the tranquil water when she descends. It was a dream like I had never imagined. More surreal than the endless gleaming White Sands Desert in New Mexico or the ancient snake charmer lined medina of Marakesh.
At the end of the day, with her sundress floating through the air she road away on her rusty bicycle. She quickly evaporated into the busy New York streets as illusively as she appeared at the beginning of the day.
