Meet Kennedy (far left) who took a friend and I on a custom tour of New York where we RUBBED New York for the afternoon in the drizzling rain. The latter wasn’t planned of course and if you decide to do the tour, try to plan for a day when the weather is decent since so much of the fabulous plaques, signs, letters, and words that you rub to create etchings are outside. Yeah, it’s physical objects you’re rubbing in New York baby, not people. It’s not that kind of tour.
It is called New York Impressions and the idea is that you walk through various parts of the city where you collect “rubbings” along the way from iconic places all around New York. Kennedy, who has a passion for the city introduces you to hidden historical gens in a three-hour tour, which includes stops at major landmarks such as Grand Central Station, 42nd Street, Fashion Walk of Fame, Macys, Union Square.
I shot some fabulous video clips throughout the tour in a four part series however the videos have gone missing together with the video camera which shot them unfortunately, but hopefully this will help provide a visual….
We ran around the city from landmark to landmark and created our own masterpiece using colors we chose. The result you get depends on your choices: colors you choose and not choose, signs you want to “etch” and ones you opt to leave off your paper canvas, location of where you put the word, letter or image and how much of what you choose are words versus images. 
What you choose, where you place what you choose and how you fill up the page is a statement of who you are in so many ways AND what your own perception is of New York, or perhaps what you’d like it to be.
The specifics:
Each person obviously creates their own piece, filled with the rubbings they collect from along the 3-hour tour.
Below is a video explaining more:
New York Impressions from Zach Mihalko on Vimeo.
Following the tour, he frames and bubble wraps your original pieces and hand delivers them to your hotel within 24 hours. If you are not staying at a hotel, he’ll sort that out for you too or simply mail them to your home.
Below is a webdoc that Bob Knorpp created following the tour which includes an audio interview with Kennedy:
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
