New York State of Mind

Peeps,

 

It’s been a while, I have neglected ye, apathy has consumed me, or is it the countless hours of work? I don’t know, don’t care, this is my trip to NYC. I am writing this for you brain, I know how you tend to forget things over the years.

 

I left MPLS on a high note, had a good night before I left, got to NYC with a big of swagger in my step. Said swagger quickly disappeared, the women of NYC are so fucking beautiful and there are so many. Everywhere I looked there they were, all colors, all heights, all different styles; i stared at every single one of them, not one batted an eye at me. It didn’t matter, they were so hot I gladly stared without shame, it’s the best I was going to do. ….. Anyways, I arrived on Thursday after a nice flight hookup from Danny Insixingmay (not his real name), took a $40 cab to the place where I would be staying, which is the home of my brothers best friend and his wife, who would be out of town giving me the place to myself. I arrived and climbed the 78 stairs to their place on the 6th floor (no elevator, hot as balls) dropped my bags off and met up with the wifes brother who was to give me a taste of NYC greens in case I wanted any during my stay. I sampled the goods but didn’t buy anything, it’s a vacation after all.  Met up with some real solid dudes to watch the NBA Draft at a bar coincidentally called DRAFT BAR. Ate some wings, drank some rolling rock, and anxiously awaited for us to trade for Steve Nash, never happened. Pretty uneventful draft but a good start to the evening… Afterwards went to some lame karaoke bar where Todd killed a version of “I’m an Asshole” that left the bar stunned in awe. From here things got slowly out of hand at some dive we strayed to, too many shots, one hit of rush, friends getting cut off, friends sleeping at Irish girls houses,  all kinds of shennanigans. Got a slice of pizza the size of my head at 4am which was sadly horrible, sloppy and hate alfredo sauce which I hate, it’s not pizza without red sauce.  Stumbled home, climbed 78 steps, tore off my sweaty clothes and slept til 11am……  The next day, Friday, met up with the senator’s son to grab an amazing freshly slices turkey sandwich Terrini’s?  waited 25 minutes for it but it was worth it, truly an amazing sandwich. Then visited the Range Life Crew at their office in SOHO, hung out their for a bit then I was off to Williamsburg Waterfront for Thievery Corporation and Raphael Saddiq.  I had recently booked a DAM-FUNK show in the Entry and since he was opening this show, I managed to get on the list (no plus 1 though.) Went to the show solo and sober, was still recovering from the night before (who takes shots?) caught the 2nd half of Raphael, who I had seen a few weeks prior at the Cabooze. Great set, high energy, beautiful outdoor venue, weather was perfect, would have been great to be there with friends, though at $50 a pop i don’t blame them for not wanting to come. They had free vitamin water which I gladly stocked on, and eventually grabbed some wine ($6), though they kept the drinking area seperate from the main concert crowd, so I didn’t want to miss Thievery. I’ve never seen them before but have always wanted to, they sound great on record but I was skeptical as to how they would pull it off live. 2 dj’s, 2 drummers, 2 horn players, guitar and bass which were augmented by a constant flow of MC’s and vocalists. Such a high energy show, heavy on the bass, heavy on the dub, couldn’t help but nod your head to it.  After the show I took the subway back to my place to get ready for the rest of the night, grabbed some shitty chinese food and met up with the guys in Brooklyn (I was staying in the East Village for those who know NYC) where we went to see the DAM FUNK dj set at Commodores, a real cool, small bar soon to be filled with funk. We slammed tequilla shots while one of the members of his band DJ’d some nice funk and soul jazz numbers. By the time Dam Funk went on, my crew, who dare I say weren’t quite aware of how cool, literally cool Dam Funk is, were getting antsy to move on to the next spot. We ended up staying for about 45-60 minutes. His set wasn’t as high energy as TML set, as this setting was more laid back so he played a lot of sexy slow jams before dropping some colab track with Snoop and some J Dilla.  I reintroduced myself to him ( I had met him backstage briefly when settling the TML show) and he was real friendly, no ego at all, looking forward to the Entry show. Anyways, left this bar and walked to another, en route stopped off at White Castle to relieve my bladder and mistakenly eat 2 cheeseburgers and fries, immediate gut rot. A few more shots of tequilla at the next bar didn’t help either, and at about 3am we were ready to head home, first stopping off at a friends house for a spliff (tobacco is sooooo harsh) then walking the few blocks home to my sweat lodge.

Next day, woke up around noon drenched in sweat, just the way it was gonna be in this apartment without AC. Went to Katz’s deli with the guys, what a shit show that place is. First off it’s all tourists, who like myself, were confused when given a ticket when entering the restaurant. They don’t have lines to order, they have a mosh pit which you eventually get to the front of where some impatient dude makes your sandwich and gives you more pickles than you want, even if you don’t like pickles ( I do, but not these) then he marks your tickets, after which if you want something to drink, you have to go to another line to get that, and another place for a spoon, all while its crowded as fuck and you don’t have a table unless you snag one which we did. I got the matzah ball soup which I must say was the best i’ve ever had outside of my grandmas, much better than crossroads and canters in LA. The corned beef sammy I got was piled high with meat and mustard and wasn’t all that impressive. For $20 (including the bottle of water) it wasn’t worth it, at least next time i know just to get the soup.  Afterwards we went walking, so much fucking walking this trip. We walked all over Chelsea and the west village. We went to the former spot of CBGB’s which is now some high end music memorilbillia and overpriced clothing. We met up with a friend of the senators son and his hot gf ANYA in Washington Square park where we saw a baby Red Hawk, easily the animal highlight of trip (i also saw 2 rats and 2 cock a roaches). We walked to the high line park where we saw Peter Dinklage with a dog the size of himself. The high line was cool, built atop some abandoned rail road tracks, tons of people though, great to sit down and people watch.   We made reservations at the Meatball Shop which had about a 90 minute wait, enough time for me to head home, grab some fresh pita and hummus, take a shower and make it back it time for a quick margarita at a mexican bar down the street. The dinner was amazing, delicious fucking meatballs as expected, a bottle of wine, beautiful waitress , free shot of expresso and patio seating with great friends, makes me wish we all lived in the same state still, seems like it’s been what ive been missing here in mn lately. After half of us including me went to Brooklyn for Bass Drums of Death and Hamini Al Khatib at Glasslands, while the senators son and myself said goodbye, as he was departing the next day. Show was great, I hadn’t been in the mood for a show as I was beat from walking all day in the heat plus the heavy meal, but the music got going and so did I.  Nice short sets, cool venue, very DIY, very low-key, small turnout. After the show smoked a super joint with some friends, which lead to a full on freakout by some friends who hadn’t indulged in a while, which led from having a mission to getting roast beef sandwiches to me being left high and dry(mouthed, pun intended) waiting for the subway alone. I however felt great, took in the sights, smells and sounds of the subway and made it home safely but sweaty and slept like a baby.

End of Part 1.