October 31, 2006

Things have been real busy lately so I haven't had much too say. Here's a brief recap of what I've been up to, aside from school and midterms.

On Tuesday of last week I spoke with playwright Joe Pintauro on the phone. We were supposed to go to dinner, but he had to cancel at the last minute due to an emergency back at his home. However, he did say that next time he is in the city he will let me know and we will get together. He also mailed me a signed copy of Metropolitan Operas, a collection of his short plays. For anyone involved in Raft of the Medusa you know how exciting this is and I will keep you all updated.

This weekend New York City got in the Halloween spirit. A bunch of us went to the village on Saturday afternoon in search of costumes for a party we were attending in Queens. After waiting in line for about ten minutes we got in the store. A bunch of people cut me off from the group, but once the people passed I stood there starring at Ice-T. He and his wife Coco were apparently in the same set of mind as everyone else. We all bought our various costumes and accessories and made our way to Queens for an awesome time and a great way to kick off the Halloween season. Tomorrow we all plan to head down to the village for the 33rd annual parade. It is supposed to be pretty crazy, so I'm excited.

Last night I went to a book discussion at the 92nd Street Y. It was a discussion by a group of people who had contributed essays about collaboration in the theater. The group discussed the book and their experiences for about an hour before they opened up for questions from the audience. Oh and the people in the discussion included: Kathleen Chalfant, the original Hannah Pitt in Angels in America, Terrence McNally, Harold Prince, winner of more Tony awards (21) than any other person in history and the director of Phantom of the Opera, and Edward Albee, three time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? among many others. This discussion was perhaps one of the most interesting conversations I have ever witnessed and one of the coolest experiences. Afterward, I spoke with Kathleen Chalfant about our experiences with Angels and it was interesting to hear that she had felt such similar feelings about the play. Finally I got my copy of Virginia Woolf signed by Mr. Albee, but I was unable to speak to him (hey I'll take what I can get).

This week is the CMJ Music Marathon here in New York. Tons and tons of shows by some of the biggest names in indie rock. Friday I plan on attending the free Decemberists show at The Apple Store in SoHo (For all those who might be interested in this, the show is at 1:00 pm and I suggest you get there early as seating is very limited). Then Scott is coming down for the Straylight Run/Saves the Day/Alkaline Trio show on Saturday. I'm pumped.

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Keep it scene in the city.

October 14, 2006

Well I can't believe that October is pretty much half over. This month is going by so fast. Not too much to report on recently. Went back to Westford for Coulumbus Day weekend and it was totally worth it. Living in the city made me really appreciate fall and everything that comes with it. Oh and the whole seeing my friends thing... that was excellent too.

I'm not sure whether everyone has heard by now, but Wednesday was a little scary here in NYC. A small plane, piloted by Yankee's pitcher Cory Lidle, crashed into a building on 72nd and York. At the time I was in class on 71st, which is about three blocks away. People were going pretty crazy in the streets when I got out of class. Tons of police, medical people, sirens, and helicopters. When I was walking back to the dorm I could even see the smoke from the building. Pretty crazy but everything is cool. Thanks to all those who called to see if I was ok.

Kim was in town this weekend so we did so much stuff. We walked all over the East Village, Greenwich Village, Washington Square Park, Union Square, SoHo, 5th Ave, Central Park, and made it up to Columbia to visit Nick. It was fun because this was the first time I've really had the chance to show someone around the city. Thursday was Mary's birthday so we decided to go to a Broadway show, our first since arriving in the city. We settled on The Wedding Singer because we could get student rush tickets for $25. It was a fun show, nothing spectacular, but worth $25 not full price. Stephen Lynch was excellent, however once he leaves I can't see the show sticking around much longer.

Oh and on the way to the show we happened to run into ROSARIO DAWSON. That woman is simply gorgeous and looked even better in person. She was just on her cell phone in front of some building that we walked by and the four of us were in shock.

Last night we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn and got some delicious cheesecake from the world famous Junior's. The view from the bridge was amazing. Today Tex, Kim and I went to the MET. I really like going there and will definately do it more often since I'm a member.

Lastly... for all of you energy drink fans, I have great news for you. The newest drink to hit the market is only available in Manhattan. Oh and it's called Cocaine. I have yet to get my hands on this but I'll let you know when I do. I'm also taking orders starting with Scott. Who needs a fix???

Keep it scene in the city.

October 2, 2006

Happy October everyone. Fall is officially here and you could feel it this weekend in the city. It was a gorgeous weekend and to celebrate there was a little Westford reunion here in the Big Apple. On Saturday afternoon my friend Kenny came down to join Nick and I in our journey to Town Hall for Sufjan Stevens. It was a great guys night out and the first one I've had since I've been here. Although our seats were not fabulous, we still had an amazing time. Sufjan was excellent. Probs the best audio quality of any show I've ever seen. Soof and his ensemble were decked out in butterfly attire for the performance and it was quite entertaining to see all of these wings bouncing around on stage. There were some tech issues during "Predatory Wasp", but Soof made up for it with an excellent sense of humor. "That is the sound of the wasp" he told us after a lound humming noise became to over powering for the song to continue. It was clever. I must say that "Chicago" was surprisingly not my favorite of the night. While I think it is perhaps my fav song of his, "Jacksonville" was unbelieveable. And i almost forgot... Soof played one of his xmas songs off his box set that is coming out at the end of the year and just for fun he threw inflatable Santas into the crown (Nick caught one) and during "Man of Steel" he threw Supermen (I caught one of those). All in all a good night. For pics and a video clip of a new song visit stereogum.

Now this week was realll busy for me and the weekend as well, my dad was in town too, so I did not have a lot of free time to fill with various events to write about so intead I'm giving you some other news:
  • Screech makes a sex tape.
  • The iphone is coming...
  • Microsoft announces the release of the Zune.
Have a good week everyone!!!

Keep it scene in the city.