Best Concert Ever

In May, I went with a friend to see Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard (of Once fame) perform for their first time at Radio City Music Hall. The concert was nothing short of incredible. They performed for two and a half hours without a break, and Hansard opened the show with a gorgeous rendition of "Say It To Me Now," acoustic, without a mic. It was beautiful. A friend pointed me to a YouTube video that captured the moment.

Busy Busy

SOOOO-freakin'-BUSY!!!!

A lot has been going on, needless to say. Grad school has me going mach 3 at all times. Very little sleep going on over here. It's beginning to pay off, I think. I got my first freelance story published in Chelsea Now. Hooray! Hopefully there will be many more clips to come. I'm working on a story now that I hope will end up in a paper somewhere. I will link it if it does.

Gram came into the city yesterday and we had dinner at Carnegie Deli, which was appropriate, as we went to Carnegie Hall for a show after. Brian Stokes Mitchell, Mr. King-O-Broadway himself, gave a concert to benefit the Actors Fund. There were a bunch of guests, including Reba McEntire and Phylicia Rashad, who were both great.

In the midst of my grad-school busy-ness, Mike came to visit for the weekend, which was a blast. We went to see Chicago (which is now starring Brian McKnight, who knew?), ran into some Albany peeps in the Village, chilled in Central Park, etc.

Mike and I had Ethiopian for lunch on Sunday.

Hector at the Mercury Lounge

The other night my pals Jeb and Clayton (together they are Hector on Stilts) played the Mercury Lounge, so I went to see them. Post-show, they posed for a very impromptu photo shoot. Characters, these two.

Mario Comes to NYC

My Swiss mister Mario came to visit me for 10 days earlier this month. It was his first time to the states, so I was really looking forward to showing him around the city. It was a great, great time. We did sooooooo much sightseeing and exploring, it was terrific (and exhausting!). It also served as a really efficient and fun refresher of the city for me.

Here are some of the things we did:
--saw three Broadway shows: Spamalot, Avenue Q and Stomp. I had seen both Ave Q and Stomp before; Spamalot was fun and charming, and hysterical. Nate came with us to Stomp, and we sat in the first row, which was quite the experience. MUCH funnier than I remembered.

--saw two movies: Once, and Stardust. Already saw Once, but it was just as great the second time. Loooooved Stardust.

--attended two sporting events: a Mets game and the U.S. Open Final. Mets are always fun; the Open was an amazing experience. Roger Federer, the champion of that match and of the world, is Swiss, so of course Mario was very excited to see the game.
--went to a Letterman taping. The guests were Jessica Alba, and a band that I never heard of before, but they were pretty cool--Manchester Orchestra.

--went to the Museum of Natural History, where we chilled with the dinosaurs for a bit and went to the IMAX movie, about dinosaurs, of course.

--went to Coney Island, and the New York Aquarium, which is right on the boardwalk. Favorite part: the walrus feeding, by far! :-)
--went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Hadn't done this since I was like, 10, maybe?
--walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at night. My first time ever! There are gorgeous views of Manhattan from there.

--visited Ground Zero on 9/11. Seemed like the right thing to do.

Also, we had dinner in Chinatown, walked around (and bought lunch at) Zabar's, had drinks in the West--and East--Villages, walked around Central Park, went to the United Nations (but the flags were down, so it was a pretty boring sight), walked and shopped on Fifth, and so many other things I completely lost track. All in all, a great time. :-)

Catching Up

Sooo I've been busy and therefore I haven't blogged too much in the past week or so. Here's what's been going on. . . .

Friday night I went to see the Five Alpha Beatdown/Brent Gorton/the Orange reunion show at Valentine's. The show was excellent. 5ABD covered "Under Pressure" and it was SO awesome! It was good to see a whole lot of old friends out and about, too. (I kept on hearing from each of them: "Yeah, I never really get out anymore." It's funny that people who don't "get out anymore" always seem to go out on the same nights and to the same places as each other. Hehe.)

Saturday and Sunday I was home in the Southern Tier/NEPA to see my family and, of course, to do laundry. On Sunday we had a nice big lunch that half of us considered Easter dinner and half of us considered a nice big lunch on Sunday. Gotta love blended families.

Monday night I took my Little Sister to see Meet the Robinsons in 3D--it was so much fun! Here's Diamonique looking very fashionable in her glasses.

. . . and I got some really terrific news over the last few days, and to celebrate, Amie sent me a beautiful bouquet of pink carnations. Thanks, Ame!!

The Weekend Report

This weekend Gram and I went to see the revival of A Chorus Line on Broadway. It was terrific. I have always known the music from the show, and I knew the story, but I hadn't seen it before. They really did a great job with it.

The rest of the weekend was spent at Gram's, eating, relaxing, chatting, doing (free!) laundry, etc., and yesterday I drove home to Albany.

When I got home, I found a gift on my bed from my brother and his girlfriend. They've been collecting Build-a-Bear stuffed animals, and whenever they bring one home, I always comment on how I'd like to have one because they're so huggable and cute. Yesterday, they got me one! Mitch had texted me to ask me, inexplicably, what my favorite boys' names were. I told him, and he picked one to name my new stuffed cat--Josiah. It's so fricking cute. They dressed him in a tux with fancy shoes. It was a really sweet gift and Josiah couldn't be more huggable. I'll blog a photo soon.

P.S. I am NOT too old to have a stuffed animal.

Thursday (and Friday) in Saratoga

Had dinner at the Hall of Springs last night, then went to see the orchestra at SPAC. It was a spectacular concert, with pieces by Beethoven, Debussy and Saint Saens. Lots of fun.

Tonight I'll head to Saratoga again, this time to spend some time with Kate and have dinner and drinks and hear all about her camping vacation.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to bring my camera someplace to have it magically fixed for free. Or at least an inexpensive repair shop. I'm not the same without my camera.

(Post) Weekend Report

Wow, I'm sleepy. I don't get it. I was asleep by 10:30 last night, awake at 6:30 this morning, gym for an hour, one cup of coffee for the day--my usual routine. So why am I so tired?


This weekend was full of lovely things.

Friday night I had dinner with friends and then went to Paranoid Social Club at Revolution Hall in Troy for a night of rock. It was great. Those guys are FABulous every single time I see them.

Saturday I went to River Street in Troy to pretend to browse for antiques for a scene piece I'm writing for this week's paper. Saturday night: dinner at this new place called Avenue A (the name of which can only conjure images of Avenue Q for me), where I had some excellent Korean steak. Then to the Egg for a hip-hop dance revue, which rocked as well.

Yesterday I went to Kristie's old house to see her mom and brother-in-law, Steve, and little niece Maeve (whose hair is getting soooo long!), and to pick up a very nice table that was unwanted by them but desperately needed by me for my dining room. That was followed by regular Sunday activities: grocery shopping, cooking for the week, cleaning. And I had a nice afternoon nap with Asa while watching The Labyrinth.

My brother has reported to me today that our landlord came and fixed our garbage disposal, which has been broken for almost a week--a situation that was really bumming me out. So I'm extremely pleased about that.

Off to find some food. . .

FUNNY Rotten Scoundrels!

Oh my god, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels could very likely be the funniest thing I've ever seen. And I've seen some funny things in my time. In addition to making the audience hoot and howl, Jonathan Pryce and Norbert Leo Butz (who just won a Tony for his role) kept cracking each other up, which made watching them even funnier. It was absolutely, perfectly hysterical.

And the Darwin exhibit at the Museum of Natural History was great--if you go, allow yourself a LOT of time to make your way through the exhibit. An hour minimum, I'd say. There's a lot of information to absorb and lots to see. Including some giant turtles and iguananas. Which, I now know, are both pretty yummy as dinner.

I added to my book collection this weekend. *Cringe!* I'm so bad. I keep promising myself the madness will stop! I think I'm really going to have to break down and buy another bookcase. This weekend I acquired two T.C. Boyle books and The Ghost of Hannah Mendes by Naomi Ragen (thanks, Gram!!); while in the city we also bought The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, Newjack by Ted Conover, and The Jewish Kitchen by Clarissa Hymen (this one in particular is super, because this book will actually teach me how to make hazelnut rugelach! I can't even tell you how exciting this is).

We had a nice, respectable kosher lunch at Fine & Shapiro in the Upper West Side, and dinner at Ollie's. Yum. Till next time. . .

Fashion and Fun at Noche

Saturday night, and a sweet VIP magazine launch party/fashion show downtown. Lights, drama, clothes, paparazzi, wine. . . . What more could a girl want?

I've Been Busy!

. . . So I haven't posted a couple pics from last week.

From Wednesday's book club meeting at Noche: Here's Melissa, enjoying a glass of sangria while we try to listen to Sarah (the blonde in the background) discuss the book over the din.

Thursday night was rockin' at Valentine's thanks to two of my favorite local bands: the Suggestions and Hector on Stilts. Here's Brodeur, being a rock star:

Alright, Kate, I'm Updating. . .

I've had some hesitations about keeping this blog, but I've decided not to be ridiculous. So, upon the request of my girl Kate P., I am updating.

So I joined the gym finally, and I am addicted. I would love to be able to get up in the morning to go work out, but unfortunately, my attempts at being a morning person are futile at best. Therefore I have been working out in the afternoons. Hey, it's better than nothing.

On Friday night, Kate and I went to see Paranoid Social Club at E. O'Dwyer's in Saratoga Springs. It was a great show, but the crowd was obnoxious! I don't mean to sound old, but when you have to practically mosh in order to keep standing upright, it gets annoying. People were throwing strings of green plastic beads from the balcony; I had a lump on my head on Saturday as proof. I smelled like gin from at least three mixed drinks being poured on my jeans. And Kate got her sweatshirt stolen that she bought in London. People are asses.
(Look for a pic of the show in the paper on Thursday.)

This is a damn funny blog for those of you wishing to waste a bit of time at work.