Where Am I?

Physically, I'm in a hotel room in Hornell, NY, preparing for Angie's gig at Black Eyed Susan Acoustic Cafe in Angelica. But I also posted about Angie's recent appearance in a staged reading of the new play Barbicide. Check it out and I'll have some actual posts from the road soon. Until then, there are plenty of real time updates on my Tumblr.

Between the Lions

I came to New York with very little money. I mean, I've never actually been rolling in it when I've visited, but this is as strapped as I've ever been. While preparing for tour I've done a little site seeing, but have focused mainly on places that are free or cheap. I took advantage of pay-what-you-can at The Met. I also found this great list of 40 Free Things to Do in New York.

Now some of these, like the FIT Museum and the Staten Island Ferry, I want to do with a friend. For a solo jaunt, the New York Public Library was the best bet on Monday, when Angie had a short nanny shift in the afternoon and I needed to get out of the house. Books, a quiet place, beautiful architecture? That's a no brainer.






I've noticed that New Yorkers really have no qualms about taking a nap anywhere.


Since I spent my lunch money on a tin of tea from Spices and Tease, I sat in Bryant Park and ate the Luna bar and banana that were stashed in my bag.


Once inside, I checked out the Lunch Hour NYC exhibit, a fascinating look at the history of lunch in New York, from street food to the Automat to Power Lunches. Then I walked the hallways. I never actually made it to a room with books, because I kept getting distracted by the building.









I did eventually find myself in one of the reading rooms. Not the famous one, just a small study room. While I was checking my email, it started raining out. The quiet and the dimness made me sleepy, so I went down to the 'Wichcraft kiosk and got a coffee. I wasn't sure if the librarians would look kindly on my napping in the reading room.

I did go out after the rain and explored Midtown a bit. But Midtown can just be a bit much. I got the hard sell on a full salon package, joining Amnesty International, and was accosted on all sides by beautiful clothes in windows and wonderful smells from restaurants. When the rain started again, I jumped back on the train and camped out in the Starbucks where I worked on Thursday to wait for Angie to get off work. Then it was a walk through Harlem at sunset followed by comfy pants and pizza and Jamaican beef patties, iced tea and Back to the Future.

Pride

Sunday was Pride Day in New York. Angie and I went down to the Village late in the afternoon. The parade was still going, but we weren't able to get anywhere near it to watch, so we just walked around and took in all the love and loved in return.














There was so much to look at and so many beautiful people that it got overwhelming fairly quickly, so we grabbed lunch and spent a little time in Washington Square Park.







Nothing like a jazz combo to soothe frazzled nerves. But we had to head home to work on tour things. Lots of ducks were still left to get in some semblance of a row.

Haley Bowery and the Manimals

Saturday night, after our tranquil afternoon in the park, we rushed down to Webster Hall to catch Hannah vs. the Many and Haley Bowery and the Manimals. Angie is friends with both ladies, and it was Haley's record release/birthday party.

On her website, Haley's bio leads with "The whiskey-soaked diary you stole from your big sister...if your sister was Gwen Stefani and hung out with the New York Dolls."

That pretty much nails it. Watching Haley reminded me of that one time I got to see The Donnas live. She has swagger like Jagger, that kind of unabashed sexy confidence that you don't see in a lot of female performers. For those of us who remember the 90s, when girls weren't just singers, but band leaders, it's so refreshing.

I didn't get much video, but this one from Haley's YouTube channel definitely captures the essence of Haley's live show.




And then there's a softer side.




The show was fantastically fun, though I ran far away when she busted out a whiskey-filled glittery Super Soaker. Yeah, that happened.

Tuesday Tunes: Saturday in the Park

The heat finally broke a little on Saturday, so Angie and I decided that we'd have a park picnic, talk in depth about the tour and do a little busking.



I met her at Columbus Circle and we grabbed some chicken, pasta salad, fruit and tea from Whole Foods before heading over. We kept it sensible, even though we were both starving and could have eaten everything in sight.



On such a beautiful day, the park was crowded with people who had the same idea that we did, but it wasn't so crowded that we couldn't find a little space on the rocks. The rocks at the Columbus Circle entrance are cool and shady, and a fantastic place to watch people. We ravaged our food and then set to work. We fumbled around with a cover of "Joey," but then we got serious and let Angie do her thing.





We were enjoying ourselves so much that it was hard to tear ourselves away, but we had a show to see later that night, and still had to run back to Harlem to drop off the instruments, freshen up, and head to the Lower East Side. We packed up and left, and as we were leaving, I said to Angie "I know we're in a hurry, but that light there, on that monument. I just have to." And she said go ahead, there's always time for art."

New York I Love You: All Shades of Brown

I grew up in a town that was fairly diverse, and was becoming more so when I moved away. When we moved to La Crosse, it took me awhile to realize that it's very, well, homogeneous. And by that I mean it's mostly white people of Nordic and German stock. No big deal, but sometimes I really just miss seeing all the different shapes and shades and ways that people can be beautiful.

The Met

New York was in the sweaty midst of a major heatwave when I arrived. I was very tempted to stay in the apartment in front of the AC and go into an internet k-hole. Then I realized that that was insanity. This is the greatest city in the world, and it is full of air conditioning. You just have to endure a humid, urine smelling subway ride in order to get where you're going.

I spent most of the morning at a Starbucks on the Upper East Side nursing a Macchiato and catching up on blogging and Angie music things. When my laptop battery died, I headed a few blocks over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The suggested admission for adults is $25, which I would have gladly paid in greener days, but all I could manage was $5. Pay-what-you-can museum admission is one of the greatest inventions ever. I also appreciate that the Met allows photography in most of the galleries. The space itself is so beautiful that I enjoyed exploring and photographing it as much as I enjoyed the art.

I spent quite a bit of time with the 19th century European paintings and sculptures. Most of my commentary on the art is on my Tumblr, but I did take a few "serious" photos.

The Grand Central Academy of Art holds copying classes at the Met, and there were several students out on Thursday recreating masterpieces.




This ink drawing of Degas' Dancer sculpture was my favorite.




I started chatting with this gentleman because we have the same camera. I started talking about my portrait lens and demonstrated it for him.



The sculpture garden is an extraordinary space. I'm not incredibly interested in classical sculpture, but the garden is a wonderful place to sit a spell.

I'm so glad I finally got to visit this New York institution, but since I barely even broke the surface of what it has to offer, I know I'll be back.

Picture an Hour: June 19, 2012

7:47 AMSome healthy snacks for the train. I should have brought at least twice this much.



8:36 AMAll packed and ready to go. It's a lot of stuff, but a lot of it was for Angie.



9:35 AMI got to the train station almost an hour early, only to discover that the train would be at least two hours late.



10:36 AMSittin' and waitin'. I was so glad I'd brought a book and had plenty of music.



11:03 AMEmpty track. Freight trains kept coming by with regular frequency, though.



12:43 PMStill waiting. At least it was a lovely, air conditioned, light filled place to wait.


1:27 PMFinally! It ended up being more like three hours late.


2:06 PMDefunct telegraph lines along the track near Fort McCoy.



3:55 PM A passing freight train. It was so disconcerting when other trains would pass, especially since my seat was facing backwards on this leg of the trip.


4:26 PMBest album in the world to nap to.



5:48 PMStepped off the train to stretch my legs in Milwaukee.



7:09 PM Woke up from napping to find we were on the outskirts of Chicago.



7:19 PM Downtown Chicago in the golden hour.


8:26 PMThe good thing about the first train being so late was that I had less of a layover at Union Station. It was so hot and crowded at my gate.


9:16 PMThe Lakeshore Limited was right on time, and I settled in with Rocky.


10:57 PMGot a little antsy and had a little Hopper moment in the empty dining car.


I didn't arrive in New York until 7:30 the next day. I spent most of that day on the train reading, napping, listening to music and taking some video footage out of the window. It really wasn't too bad a day.