Life’s been fine lately, and just that. I’m getting used to routine; sleep til 11, drink coffee, check emails, twitter, facebook. Shower, eat lunch with a tv show on, go to work and repeat. i’m not thrilled about this, I feel too young for this mundane routine. Work is great, hang out with rockstars to some extent, but it’s just too repetitive, where’s the challenge?  I still itch to travel, and deep down I know I should quit my job, sell my belongings and hit the road. I am forgetting more and more Spanish each day, such a waste. Truth is though, life isn’t that bad in the scheme of things, so it’s hard to fix something that isn’t truly broken.

I have a bald spot in my beard now, I think it’s alopecia, which can be caused by stress which came during a month of 50-60 hour weeks a few months back. It is getting bigger, i’m not sure if this means that the stress is still there or what, but i’m really self-conscious of it, people notice it. I have a doctor’s appointment in September and I hope they can fix it.  I had alopecia in my hair when i was a youngster and they gave me cream to put on it and it grew back, I hope that happens again, I need a full beard.

Wednesday, my last day in town. Went to UniqGlo to pick up my tailored clothes (i mentioned it was free right?) and then returned to my favorite sandwich shop one last time, Alidoro at which I only ate  half my sandwich due to its enormous size. We got there at the perfect time, as by the time we left the line was well out the door. And that was it, said my goodbyes, packed up my bags, put the apartment back together and caught another $40 cab to the airport. Got there at like 245 for a 345 flight, tried checking in at the electronic check in but it wouldn’t let me, had to go talk to an agent who informed me that the flight had already started boarding and I couldnt get on it officialy, but instead had to check in for the later flight 3 hours later and try and explain to the gate that i was supposed to be on the early flight.  Made it to my terminal where a fairly bitchy Delta person told me she could get me on the early flight, but couldn’t get my bag switched over, which made it pointless to fly early.   So, I waited an extra three hours, ate the rest of my sandwich, slept for 20 minutes, listened to the Peaking Lights album twice, and watched a young chinese family interact for quite a bit before hopping on a flight in which the girl next to me was reading some kind of sex novel for teens, I saw the words “tits” and “fucked” a lot.   Finally got home, my wonderful father picked me up and my trip was over.

Final Notes:

NYC was a pretty cool place to check out, there’s so much going on, so much to see, do, eat etc…  I could see myself living there,  but I hate the fact of how dirty it is. The first day i remember trying to dodge the shit and shit stains on the sidewalk, but I realize that since you walk so much, you don’t have time to keep your eyes on the ground looking out for trash/gum/shit, it has just become part of the sidewalk there. The trash gets picked up daily, but when its been baking in the sun on the sidewalk all day it fucking stinks, the subways stinks, I heard horror stories bout bums on the subways smelling like shit but I never had to deal with it. Speaking of bums, it’s so bizarre to see people actually sleeping on the sidewalk a few stores down from the place where I just spent $20 on a sandwich. I mean, we have homeless people here, but you never see them actually sleeping on the filthy sidewalk.   These few things were huge turn-offs to me, along with the fact that it takes a while to get from point A to point B, maybe you just missed the last train, maybe it takes forever to walk there because there are so many people heading there too, whatever it is, it made me realize how small MPLS really is, and how I like the size of it, not too small, not too big, right in the middle.

Monday was supposed to be my day of tourist things, but my foot was really hurting, the blister had gotten bigger and each step hurt gravely. Regardless, I marched out to catch my subway to ground zero, grabbed some coffee and a delicious egg sandiwich and got off where I thought ground zero was, not totally sure how to get there though. I first walked halfway across the brooklyn bridge before turning around, knowing it was the wrong direction. Full of tourists but provided a beautiful view of the city. I went back the way I came and kind of wandered around until I found a crowd of people who I knew were heading to the same place. Isn’t much to see there anymore, two buildings being built behind a fence, isn’t much of a place to stop and stare or think about what happened there and the impact it has had on our lives. One thing though, looking up at the other buildings around it, and imagining an airplane smashing into it, then the entire building crashing down, is pretty insane. Regardless, I am glad to say I was there, it truly is the epicenter of the modern state of civilization.  Afterwards I kept on walking until i hit the waters edge from which I could see the statue of liberty so I could cross that off my list.   This trip took longer than I had hoped, but I made it back in time for perhaps the greatest sandwich I’ve ever had, better than my previous turkey sandwich on this trip. The place was Allidoro’s, some small Italian shop that makes sandwiches until they run out of the bread they buy fresh for the day. I got a salami (fresh sliced) with mozzarella, arugula, hot peppers and balsamic vinagrette, and holy shit, it just tasted so fresh. The meat was cut so lean, the mozzarella burst with flavor, the balsamic deliciously dripped all over my fingers, if only MPLS had a shop like this, I would eat there every single mother fucking day. Monday night we ventured to midtown so I could experience the bullshit that is times square, but first another delicious meal for dinner.  Inside some posh hotel, in a small hallway feet away from the concierge desk, is a tacky, neon sign that says Burger Joint on it. Follow it and you enter what looks like the old Gold Nugget if it was the size of a living room. Old tables, small grill, tiny menu, burgers and fries all in this expensive ass hotel. I, like the rest of my party got burgers and fries, the latter of which tasted a lot like mcdonalds fries. A delicious burger with everything on it cooked to a perfect medium, truly a must see in order to believe that such a place exists, a true hole-in-the-wall diner. Afterwards we walked through Times Square, which is just bright lights and tourists, advertisements and Sbarro’s Pizza. The lights were cool sure, but the masses of idiot tourists taking pictures made me anxious and I was happy to leave there as soon as possible. My companion needed to make a phone call so we decided to walk the 50+ blocks back, my foot aching with each step, still though it just feels good to get excercise like that and immediately makes any regret of a burger and fries evaporate. After a nice conversion back at the range life office, I gladly headed for a good nights rest before my last full day in NYC.

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.

I need to start anew, my boys will always be my boys, and with them amongst the guys, like how it was hanging at Beckers dads’ house but in a situation like this, I wanted to sit on the end next to a stranger. it was not my scene. Luckily i had to bolt early for a concert, but I wouldn’t have lasted a whole meal, though i wouldnt mind returning as the full menu looked good. A #12 from Milio’s down the street filled me up just fine.

I write boring stories, perhaps it’s why i can’t tell a good story.