Yay 4 Lazy Day!

So on Tuesday Suze went shopping, which I really didn't want to do, and so instead I stayed home in the AC (it was dammed hot), caught up on my blogging and did the washing.

'Blah blah you're in new york you should do something blah'. Whatever. It was a fun day and I can't be all go go go for a whole month. Oh and I really needed clean underwear so it was totally productive.

Art Brut

Had tickets to see Art Brut. Except I didn't actually 'have' tickets. They were 'will call' (where your ticket's on the door)...or so I thought. When I got there, my ticket wasn't there. After a short walk (trying to find an internet cafe) I remembered they were actually 'print out and bring' tickets...i'd printed out but not brought...oops. The ticketmaster guy was cool: 'i'll just get my manager and he can access the system and sort it out'. Yay! But no :( Manager: 'Unfortunately...blah blah...new policy...you didn't print yr tickets out...blah..*stern look*'. So then the other guy was nice enough to search the internets to find the nearest internet cafe (about 15 blocks away) to print my tickets out.

So I went for a walk from Chelsea through East Village, which was kinda nice, found the internet cafe with the no-speak-much-English lady, printed out my ticket and walked back. I got back just as support band White Rabbits were finishing. Was kinda glad about that as I was sure I was going to hate them.

So Art Brut came on. They were pretty great. I'm not sure why I like them (ironic and hilarious lyrics are not enough). But I do, a lot. And they were great live. Both musically and showmanshiply. The show was full of underage girls (which is legal in this state). Ugh.


Here's some pics:

I have Buzz Cola!!!

I had a few hours to spare between MoMA and a gig later that night so I went for another walk through Time's Square to the Kwik-E-Mart to see if they had replenished their stocks of Buzz Cola. And Huzzah!

I found a fridge full of them and there was no purchase limit, so I bought 3. Will post a pic of what they look like if I stop feeling lazy later on. Will probably drink one before I leave if I need to lighten my luggage.

MoMA

On Monday a friend took us to the Musuem of Modern Art and got us in for half price. The main temporal attration was an exhibition Richard Serra's sculptures. Most of his smaller (and earlier) work just looked like shit you'd find lying around in an old shed to my uncultured eye but his large iron sculptures were great to walk through. They looked something like this:




Walking through the figure 8 one was lots of fun. I did it twice.

There was also on display a large collection of significant artworks from their permanent collection, a photography exhibition and one entitled 'What is Paining?' but by far my exhibition was the 'Architecture and Design Galleries' (the 'Design' part) which showcased significant significant designs of the past and currently developing methods. My favourites were products designed using Rapid Manufacturing and a method for digitally weaving cloth such that it doesn't unravel when you cut it (more interesting in practice, than theory). Also enjoyed the '50 years of Helvetica' display.

After we were kicked out of the museum at close we spent ages in their fantastic design store full of very expensive but awesome things that are fun to play with, look at, and maybe buy.

Tortoise & Kieran Hebden/Steve Reid & Another Band

So we left the pool party early to get some rest before this much-looked-forward-to gig. Suze <3 Kieran & James <3 Tortoise. And both were keen to see the other. Webster Hall was a fantastic venue. Multiple levels of vintage elegance. The toilet bowls/basis glowed green. And there was a man sitting behind a hardwood bar IN THE TOILET selling all manner of things, but mainly candy. There was a fancy looking balcony from which to watch the band, but unfortunately, on this particular night, it was VIP-only. The first band played. I forget their name. The creative force behind the band was both singer and drummer, which was a fresh change (you know, like, Spiderbait). His music was funky, erratic and pretty fantastic, which makes me wish I knew who they were. And if I wasn't so lazy I could probably just ask Google sternly.





And then Hebden and Reid played. This was also pretty great, but undoutbedly my favourite part was Steve Reid's drumming. Steve's a 63 year old American Jazz drummer who's played with some great names and has a hell of a lot of energy for an old man. The way played was just mesmerizing. And it's made me more bitter about the fact that I've spent a month in NYC and haven't seen any Jazz.



And then Tortoise came out. They played for a very, very long time. I've only heard one album of theirs (TNT) and they played plenty off it and the rest of their sit was completely enjoyable. Just a fantastic gig from some competent (middle-age) muscians.





A most satisfying show.

Pool Party #3

So we went to yet another free Sunday afternoon pool party. I was really looking forward to this one as my new found music love, Dan Deacon, was playing. I got there fairly early, grabbed by third soy dog and found a nice (warm) spot in the shade. And then Dan Deacon.

Dan plays his shows on the ground i.e. in the audience. Half the crowd were down there surrounding him (with probably about 2% able to see anything) and the other half were on the outskirts hanging around the mist blowers, beer tents, food and shade. We were in the latter half. As much as I enjoy his music it wasn't worth standing in direct sun, in a crowd and still not being able to see anything for. Throughout the show he regularly referred to our 'half' as the 'flickr zone'. Ouch!

So, anyway, his set was short and didn't live up to expectations. He did some sort of dancing competition but, again, we couldn't see anything. I think in a more intimate venue (which he played later that night, but I was unable to go to) he'd be much, much better.

Our view:



Some photographer's view:






Then some other band, Erase Errata, came on and Suze nor I were interested so we went home for a much needed, short rest.

Bar Hopping in Williamsburg

So after the Cat Power gig we decided to head out in our home suburb. Something we hadn't actually done yet. We made a list of places to go with addresses and then headed off. We went to 5 bars (and unsuccessfully tried to find one). They were okay. But kinda boring. "People don't dance no more, they just stand there like this" (The Rapture).

The highlight of the night was the two bars that provided a whole cheese pizza free with every drink purchased. At the first place we ate three slices between us and gave the rest away. At the second we devoured the whole thing in a bit of a 'where the fuck did all the pizza go' moment.



Oh, and I played some sort of touch-screen game. At first I thought it was some funtastic form of gambling. But it wasn't. It was just silly games like crosswords. And that was a stupid thought because gambling is illegal in New York State.



On the way home we were in the same area where we'd previously seen the movie set and so I tried to find the location again. Instead we came across an abandoned carinval. Which in my drunken haze was a little spooky. It felt like I was in an R.L. Stine choose your own adventure novel. I chose to take quite a few photos and then scoot home.








Oh and I should mention that the Empire State Building changed color to commemorate Live Earth:

Flea Markets & Non-Free Pool Gig

On this hot day we decided to check out some markets in Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea. The first was outside and I don't cope well with the sun, so I had a quick look (bought a belt) and then had a mango sorbet in the shade followed by a piece of 99c pizza. Ninety-Nine cents!!!

So then we caught a special shuttle bus between that and another market. This one was full of antiques and old things. Old things are nice and all but the idea of owning that stuff is like a nightmare for me. So I had some looks and then left Suze to sort through the tables and tables of stuff while I went to yet another, more commerical market and ate food.

When we got home I checked the time for the gig we had that day that Suze thought was about 7.30pm but it was actually 5pm (and it was 5.30pm at the time). So we scooted down to the McCarren pool to find an 80m line to get in. Grrr. The line took about 40minutes.

By the time we got in Cat Power just came on meaning we'd missed support Built to Spill (or so we thought). I wasn't familiar with Cat Power but really enjoyed her set minus her terrible between-song banter. After she finished everying seemed to stay so we did too only to find that we had the band order wrong and hadn't missed Built to Spill. So we watched that, it was okay, and then went home for a much-needed rest.

Fujiya & Miyagi & Black Moth Super Rainbow

This free gig was part of the River to River festival which happens over summer. It was a great spot (on a pier) for a gig.


Black Moth Super Rainbow were enjoyable. Lots of nice noise and distorted vocals. Seemed like an odd choice for for a gig so close to many middle-class restaurants. But I guess that's just NYC for ya.



And then Fujiya & Miyagi played. I've listened to their album well over 50 times since I got it so was quite looking forward to the gig. It was good. What I expected, nothing more nothing less. My only gripe was the group nearby shaking a fucking tamborine and blowing a whistle for the sole purpose of shitting people off. From what I gathered he was annoyed because he coudln't busk in the area due to the gig.

South St Seaport Pier 17

We had no idea what this was but there was a gig there later that night and despite being about 3 hours early we went there to check it out, and thankfully.

There were shops, decks over the East River with great views of the Brooklyn Bridge and parts of Brooklyn and restaurants.

There was a Butterfly shop opposite a Bonsai store. How fabulous!


We spent some time staring at this view:




We spotted an iPhone in the wild:


All iPhones I've been in the public have been in the hands of Asians.

We still had more time to waste so we found the restaurant with the best view of the stage. And then worked our way to the table with the best view (this caused a bit of a kerfuffle but that wasn't our fault!).

I don't have any photos from the restaurant (I think Suze does) but we had a 180 degree view with a (surprisingly quiet) expressway and tall buildings on one side and a large sail boat and river on the other. It was really nice.

So we ate our KFC-on-a-white-plate (followed by a delicious, hot pan-baked cookie with icecream and chocolate fudge) while watching the support and then left for the main band.