Erstwhile Okie on St. Mark's Place. "That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past."
Periodically, I'll see this couple pop up on Instagram doing these very stripped down covers of 70s songs ("Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Rich Girl", "Movin' Out") with great harmonies. Just last week I saw one again and it actually prompted me to see if I could find any full versions on YouTube Music. Then, Monday, I got an ad for the couple doing a show in NYC. I've never been a huge fan of live music, but I've been more isolated than usual lately, so I clicked through and found the venue was two blocks from my apartment and tickets were all of $20.
I still went back and forth on it, but eventually bought a ticket. Went last night (the couple's band's name is Wendlo) and it was nice. I actually liked the opener even better than the main event. A solo singer-songwriter, Georgia Parker. Didn't get any videos of her, but I really loved the song she opened with: Pit Stop. Sort of stung hearing it; there's a line: "I met someone new he is kinder than you are / But that isn't that hard to do" which I don't like to imagine people I've known justly saying about me.
Full disclosure: this post is largely just to test my improved video upload tools which should also send the video to my Bluesky and Mastodon accounts...
Morning hike at Bear Mountain. Unexpected sighting of the Manhattan Skyline. Bit crowded.
Chelsea Piers.
From Jimmy Breslin's CAN'T ANYBODY HERE PLAY THIS GAME?, a portrait of the Mets' disastrous first season.
From a book of W.H. Auden's poems. I've never liked his stuff much but am trying to since I moved onto his old block, St. Mark's between 1st and 2nd.
Soaking up some Italian culture at the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy.
· 1 min read
3 years ago
I've been so in arrears with fines for permitless parking at the Middletown train station, I'd taken to just driving to Manhattan during the week. Finally got the fines cleared up and am happy to be liberated from alternate side parking and able to enjoy train reading, such as this delectable tale of Gothic Romance and affordable downtown real estate.
We met the Mets.
Shake Shack in Madison Square Park.
· 1 min read
3 years ago
Randomly saw John Gallagher, Jr. on my corner the other night and opted to be gauche and ask for a picture. His Tony Award-winning turn as Moritz Stiefel in Spring Awakening really rocked my world, and I was partly emboldened since we have a mutual friend. Shame about the selfie quality, but from what little I can make out of my face, probably for the best.
Genuinely shocked to see STOMP no longer on the marquee at the Orpheum walking home today.
Took a little stroll through Greenpoint yesterday and got a picture of the boys in front of the apartment I lived in 2005-10. Things sure have changed a bit since then... 😬
Saturday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
· 1 min read
4 years ago
Sundays in the Park with Sammy 👦
Being that he is just like his dad, my younger son is exhausting. But I savored the opportunity to have a weekend in NYC just the two of us. It involved Macy's, street pretzels, a touristy theater-district Italian restaurant, trains & automobiles, a Christmas Sherlock/Scrooge crossover play, breakfast pastries, Grant's Tomb, and the picnic game for the drives to and from upstate.
I'm going to a picnic and I'm bringing an anaconda, butt crackers, a cow turd, a big basket of dog butt juice, an eagle feather, a fertility clinic, a gun, a Hiroshima bomb, an imbecile, a judge, a kangaroo, a little book about your mom, a marshmallow, a nifty eyebrow, an oopsie-doopsie, a pro man pro go-go man, a queen bee, a rat zit, a stupid man, tighty-whiteys (sic), an under the porcelain throne camera, a vaccine for your-mom-aphobia, a wicked butt rash, an x-ray that is funny from "Daddy's Home" that means he won't get much privacy, your mom's balls, and Zachary Legend tenticle-punched your mom in the balls so hard she got thrown into a galaxy far, far away [sing Universal intro theme], Fox Production.
· 1 min read
4 years ago
With a forecast for a sunny, 70° weekend, I decided to bring the boys down to NYC. Hit up a sushi place for dinner and a creperie for breakfast (both of which are on my block, neither of which I'd tried...), visited my classroom where Sammy explained my notes to me, and enjoyed Italian ices in Tompkins Square Park. 10/10.
Oh fuuuuuuuuuudge.
Tire exploded on the eve of a week where I have to make two round trips between NYC and upstate. Thank heavens for free labor.
· 1 min read
4 years ago
Was excited when I heard the Squirrel Nut Zippers were doing a free concert in Bryant Park tonight. I first discovered them when I was 11 or 12, and their music and aesthetic were hugely influential on me. The show was great even though I was bummed that Katharine Whalen wasn't there. Afterwards I was thrilled to be able to run over and get a picture with Jimbo Mathus, who was very indulgent.
I don't usually go out and do cute New York City things, but my son wrote me from summer camp asking if I could send along a cookie and I figured I'd do one better than a roll of Oreos and had fun running down to this sweet little bakery around the corner from my office.
They're playing French movies in parks across New York City this summer in a series called FILMS ON THE GREEN. Catching TOUCHEZ PAS AU GRISBI here at Tompkins Square.
Snippy person pulls over as I'm walking down the road and demands "WHICH WAY TO NEW YORK?!" I smile and throw my arms in the air and spin around: "MY FRIEND YOU'RE ALREADY HERE!!"
Visiting from Callicoon, NY!
Snagged for some sort of child development study at Manhattan Children's Museum
Ready for NYC
Boompa Reading his beloved Happy Hollisters to Averill. Back to New York in the morning!
Segment of 24" pipeline. Millennium Pipeline in NYS is 30"
Ten years ago this week, this excited, foolish young couple became residents of New York.
Edmond represented at the Callicoon NY firehouse
New Yorkers: Ella-MEN-tarry
Everyone else: Ella-MEN-tree
Woke up in Callicoon this morning and am now at my desk in Manhattan.
Ha! 14 years later you wake up in your apartment in Manhattan and will be, by 9:45, picking up your yet unborn sons in Callicoon.