(no subject)
I am in NYC for the week. The first time back in four years.
This is also the first paid vacation I've had in over a year.
We have started out this trip with the entirely appropriate large amounts of awesome.
First it was up to the Panorama at the Queens Museum of Art. it doesn't sound like a hell of a lot, but it's actually a rather fascinating model of the entire city. It was last updated in 1992 or so, so yes, it does have both of the WTC towers, which is kind of strange, yet it somehow doesn't seem that out of place.
On the way to and from the 7 train platform, fuzzyjelly did her usual Cat Whisperer thing and made friends with a neighbor cat that had come sauntering out of an apartment, and a rather feisty kitten in a bodega on the way back.
Various train and shopping planning shenanigans had us end up by Penn station, where we discovered an absolutely *wonderful* Chinese place that did Chinatown style roast beasties. The duck and the pork were excellent.
After returning back to the hotel, fuzzyjelly found that They Might Be Giants were playing at a new venue in Greenwich Village, so we purchased tickets and off we went. It was a smaller basement venue, with a rather strange menu (it had California rolls and PB&J, which we both respectively had) and a decent bar (Stolichnaya Razberi yum, Manhattan drinks prices OW). The concert, opened by "Le Chauds Lapins", a eccentric Brooklyn group that sings 20's/30's French Music hall pieces, quite simply rocked. I haven't seen TMBG in probably 10-12 years or so. They ran through a *lot* of their old stuff, which I was really happy with, I don't think I've heard a lot of these songs live, and I went to quite a few of their concerts back when I was in high school.
On the 3rd encore (there were 4 or so), they actually did "Fingertips", which is one of the most oddball sets of song snippets I've ever had the pleasure of owning on a compact disc. This is the first time I'd ever heard "Fingertips" live. The "Blue thing" segment vocal were done purely as a crowd participation thing, and most of the crowd appeared to be hardcore fans enough to stay singing along with it. I know I was.
And me, being the occasional dumb-ass that I am, forgot to take the camera to the show. Note To Self: Bring camera whenever possible, dammit!
So, day 1 summary:
Nifty museum: Check
NY cats to pet: Check
Good food: Check
New York club concert experience: Check
I certainly hope the rest of this trip goes as well.
This is also the first paid vacation I've had in over a year.
We have started out this trip with the entirely appropriate large amounts of awesome.
First it was up to the Panorama at the Queens Museum of Art. it doesn't sound like a hell of a lot, but it's actually a rather fascinating model of the entire city. It was last updated in 1992 or so, so yes, it does have both of the WTC towers, which is kind of strange, yet it somehow doesn't seem that out of place.
On the way to and from the 7 train platform, fuzzyjelly did her usual Cat Whisperer thing and made friends with a neighbor cat that had come sauntering out of an apartment, and a rather feisty kitten in a bodega on the way back.
Various train and shopping planning shenanigans had us end up by Penn station, where we discovered an absolutely *wonderful* Chinese place that did Chinatown style roast beasties. The duck and the pork were excellent.
After returning back to the hotel, fuzzyjelly found that They Might Be Giants were playing at a new venue in Greenwich Village, so we purchased tickets and off we went. It was a smaller basement venue, with a rather strange menu (it had California rolls and PB&J, which we both respectively had) and a decent bar (Stolichnaya Razberi yum, Manhattan drinks prices OW). The concert, opened by "Le Chauds Lapins", a eccentric Brooklyn group that sings 20's/30's French Music hall pieces, quite simply rocked. I haven't seen TMBG in probably 10-12 years or so. They ran through a *lot* of their old stuff, which I was really happy with, I don't think I've heard a lot of these songs live, and I went to quite a few of their concerts back when I was in high school.
On the 3rd encore (there were 4 or so), they actually did "Fingertips", which is one of the most oddball sets of song snippets I've ever had the pleasure of owning on a compact disc. This is the first time I'd ever heard "Fingertips" live. The "Blue thing" segment vocal were done purely as a crowd participation thing, and most of the crowd appeared to be hardcore fans enough to stay singing along with it. I know I was.
And me, being the occasional dumb-ass that I am, forgot to take the camera to the show. Note To Self: Bring camera whenever possible, dammit!
So, day 1 summary:
Nifty museum: Check
NY cats to pet: Check
Good food: Check
New York club concert experience: Check
I certainly hope the rest of this trip goes as well.