Name: Joan Osborne
Age: 40-ish
Neighborhood: Cobble Hill
Occupation: Singer-songwriter, performs and speaks at the 92nd Street Y January 15
Who’s your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?
Walt Whitman.
What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in New York?
New Year’s 2001 at my friend Maura Robinson’s home.
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job?
Inhale deeply, exhale honestly.
Would you still live here on a $35,000 salary?
If I had a sugar daddy.
What’s the last thing you saw on Broadway?
Bob Dylan at the United Palace, Broadway and 175th.
Do you give money to panhandlers?
Seldom, but a guy in a wheelchair waited patiently for me to parallel park and get out of his way the other day, so I gave him $1.
What’s your drink?
Sometimes single-malt scotch and soda on the rocks, sometimes green-goddess juice from Govinda’s organic market on Atlantic Avenue.
How often do you prepare your own meals?
Every day.
What’s your favorite medication?
Making love.
What’s hanging above your sofa?
A photo collage of the women in my mother’s family going back seven generations.
How much is too much to spend on a haircut?
Depends on the cut and the person who needs it.
When’s bedtime?
Varies, generally before midnight.
Which do you prefer, the old Times Square or the new Times Square?
The new Bryant Park.
What do you think of Donald Trump?
That he needs to spend more money on his hair.
What do you hate most about living in New York?
Pollution. And street-cleaning trucks: They are like monsters from my childhood imaginings.
Who is your mortal enemy?
No one that I know of.
When’s the last time you drove a car?
Last night.
How has the Wall Street crash affected you?
Taken some money out of my pocket, but replaced it with a hope that materialism will become less important for the society my daughter grows up in.
Times, Post, or Daily News?
Times online, Daily News on the train.
Where do you go to be alone?
Sullivan County.
What makes someone a New Yorker?
Love of the city.
