Skipping in the Streets

People are hopping, skipping, tip toeing and leaping in the streets today. This is not typical New Yorker behavior. The reason everyone is so spritely are the gi-normous puddles of slush covering the sidewalks and creating an expansive and treacherous radius of mushy-wetness around each street corner. It looks like someone took one part white cherry slurpee, one part ash, mixed it up and dumped it in the streets.

It is the fear of being attacked by this ash-slurpee mixture that has the locals doing their silly little snow-dance in the streets.

Oh, and remember not to stand too close to the curb when the cars are driving by... cars act like catapults and the slush will get you.

Joshua Radin/Webster Hall

Concert #5 of 5 was Joshua Radin at Webster Hall... Which is really the concert that sort of inspired Marathon Live Music Week 2009 to begin with.

Joshua Radin's career kicked off when his buddy Zach Braff out one of his songs on his hit TV show, Scrubs. I discovered Joshua Radin from the "Catch and Release" Soundtrack. And now you can discover him from this blog post (just doing my part to support the arts).

Josh:

A brief note on Webster Hall as well, which is another iconic venue, this time on the Lower East Side. It's been around since 1886 - the site for socialite balls, prohibition era speakeasys, protests, rallies, recordings, plays, concerts, nightclubs and intellectual circles. It's difficult to imagine packing anymore character and history into a single building.

No Envy, No Fear:

Vegetable Car:

Thus ended Live Music Marathon 2009. Good times were had, I think we'll make it a tradition.

Robbie Gil/The Bitter End

I've seen Robbie Gil a couple of times now. He's a fun local artist, so I still go out to see him when I can.

This is Robbie:

But what really made this show (Concert #2 out of 5 during marathon live music week) rockin' was the venue.



The Bitter End is a famous Rock 'N' Roll Club on Bleeker in the West Village. It's been around for almost 50 years... and that's a long time in a city where restaurants often don't stay open for more than a year.

The Bitter End was one of Bob Dylan's hangouts, not to mention the launching pad for some of the greatest artist of our generation.

To name a few:

Tori Amos
Blues Traveler
Vanessa Carlton
Tracy Chapman
David Crosby
Miles Davis
John Denver
Neil Diamond
Bob Dylan
G.Love & Special sauce
Hall & Oates
Indigo Girls
Etta James
Norah Jones
Billy Joel
Patti La Belle
Lisa Loeb
Sarah McLachlan
Joni Mitchell
Van Morrison
Linda Ronstadt
Carly Simon
James Taylor
Joe Walsh
Stevie Wonder
Neil Young

I was impressed.

Amos Lee/The Jazz at Lincoln Center

Without a doubt, seeing Amos Lee at The Jazz at Lincoln Center goes down as one of my top ten nights in New York City.

Melissa called every day for a month, but there weren't any tickets available... until about 3 hours before the show, there was some rushing, an argument with a cab driver and a frantic scramble for the box office, but she was ultimately successful. I maya have started dancing in my cubicle when I heard the news, but since there aren't any witnesses, that can't be confirmed.

In the same spirit of boldness adventuring, we found a new restaurant on the Upper West Side for dinner - Calle Ocho, really good Cuban food, I highly recommend it - and the promptly made our way over to the venue.

A shiny elevator operated by a nice man in a maroon uniform took us to the fifth floor of the Time Warner Center. I was rendered speechless when we walked into the room.

Floor to ceiling windows overlooked Columbus Circle with a view straight down Central Park South. The stage was a small raised platform in front of the wall of windows. Oh, and then we were taken to our seats in the THIRD ROW, and that's when I squeeked with joy and amazement and almost passed out. We were able to sneek the above picture before the camera-nazi patroller scolded us and informed us of the no-picture rule.

He's a great live performer and it every minute was spine-tingling. And since this was concert #3 in my marathon week of live music, I have a solid fram of reference.

The artist, himself:

Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5hPVqPMywc

Urban Art, for Emily

Fuerza Bruta

In English, it means "brute force," and right now in New York City, it is the title of a very unique production being put on at the Daryl Roth Theatre in Union Square. We went on Saturday, for my friend Kristin's birthday.

So... Here's the fun part where I get to try and describe an indescribable experience.

The audience is standing through out the entire show. This is essential because the audience is also moving through out the entire show. The audience must move because very large objects, from people sized to small-house sized are moving through, about, above and around them. Bright lights flash, confetti flies, gigantic fans send bursts of wind, water rains down, and the sub woofer is so loud it reverberates in your chest.

The show begins with a man on walkway, walking at first and then running as he forces his way through obstacles. He gets knocked down, and continues to claw his way forward. Eventually he is joined by several other depressed and bedragled looking people in business-suit attire looking deeply unsatsified and otherwise oppressed by "the man," that faceless corporate force of evil. A series of other elements are incorporated in, and with each one the man, occasionally joined by his companions, begin to shed their culturally imposed boundaries and get down to raw humanism. At one point the audience is enveloped by a metallic sheet while aerial performers run back and forth flipping and cartwheeling. Later on performers appeared in a glass bottom pool of shallow water above the audience. The pool decended as the performers danced, splashed and skidded inches from the heads of the audience. In the end the audience and cast dissolved into a full out dance party that can only be described as an unfettered celebration of the chance to be alive.

It was very artsy, other-wordly and a truly unique experience.

The Blender

There is a funky lookin' little theatre across the street from my office called The Blender. I've always wanted to go there, because it's funky, little, and across the street from my office.

So when I found out that a band I had actually heard of was playing there, I immediately recruited my musician friend to go concerting with me.

As it turned out, the band we actually went to see didn't play. Go figure. But the bands that did play weren't half bad, in fact they ranged from quite talented to down right entertaining. One of the bands even led the audience in a - get this - Punk Rock Congo Line. that's right, the base player jumped right off the stage and took a congo line of enthusiastic audience members on a little fieldtrip up and around the auditorium.

The band here is called Patent Pending, the originators of the Punk Rock Congo Line...


The venue itself was actually a rockin' little venue.

I'll be your office doesn't have rock concerts across the street.