Have you wanted to check out Apple's swanky new iPhone but, like me, have you been too lazy to actually drag yourself down to the Apple store to do so? Shopping can be a bit drab. Wouldn't it be more fun if you could consume while one of your favorite DJ's laid down tune after killer tune?
Enter Apple's Midnight Mix, a series of appearances by some of today's hottest electronic acts in the retailer's Fifth Avenue Manhattan location. Past performers include Mark Ronson and François K. Spank Rock is slated to make an appearance in September.
Friday night, Diplo took the helm and treated a crowd that comfortably took up about half the space to two hours of signature Diplo madness.
As usual, he effortlessly kept his enthusiastic fans cheering and dancing with new and old jams (including my current favorite of his, "Work Is Never Over" -- aka the story of my life) while spanning an expansive amount of musical sub genres.
Although I didn't buy anything, not even FreeNYC's claim that drinking or dancing wouldn't take place there, I heard the registers ring throughout the night and those who weren't plunking down cash for coveted Apple goods were at least testing out the merchandise by documenting the evening on the iPhones on display. I bet the store employees entertained themselves heavily going through all those photos the next day.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Diplo + iPhones = Good times
Friday, July 13, 2007
Bike For Sale!
I'm selling my awesome cute bike, it's in great condition, hardly used, must pick up in Brooklyn, Grand stop off the L train! Let me know, price is negiotable :) Happy Friday!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Inner city pressure
Sometimes the New York rat race wears me out. Working hard just to scrape by can make anybody question his or her choices in life but as New York City's "#1 Barry White impersonator" serenaded me on my way home from the office tonight, it dawned on me; how could I live anywhere else?
All these thoughts of inner city pressure and Barry's sweet serenade reminded me of something I'd been meaning to bring up on this blog for a few weeks now: HBO's brilliant new series "Flight of the Conchords".
Two out of three robots agree "Flight of the Conchords" kicks ass. The third would probably concur but was out of the country for a hot minute and has yet to catch this new piece of televised brilliance.
Through song, comedy and great characters, the show allows New Yorkers to jovially commiserate with its realistic depictions of city apartments (sorry "Friends", sorry "Seinfeld"), thought-provoking plot lines (would you desert your friend if the both of you were being mugged?) and the struggle to make it here as an artist (coupled with the harsh reality of taking work holding up signs on city streets to make ends meet.)
The show airs Sunday nights at 10:30 p.m. and HBO is currently streaming the fourth episode in its entirety on their site.
In New York City, we dream big. My dream: to be serenaded by those two lewd, nude dudes, Bret and Jemaine. Anything could happen; it's New York City!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
A Moveable Feast
If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.
-Ernest Hemingway
I've returned from staying in Paris and I do have to say I was pretty sad to leave such a incredible city. In the end I managed to blend into the French culture. Taking the buses, the metro, getting lost on the RER, navigating the arrondisements and the plenty of tourists, finding the perfect baguette sandwich (tuna fish with herbs and chopped boiled egg on a crusty baguette, thank you Paul's sandwich shop!), drinking wine (Rose) for lunch and dinner, eating cheese at every meal, taking naps in beautifully sculpted parks, sailing toy wooden boats, visiting some of the most beautiful art work and historic houses in the world and even smelling a bit like the French in the end.
It was a wonderful experience and there were moments of, "I want to move to Paris!" and also moments of, "My French is horrendous!" and stomach cries of "I'm sick of bread and meat and I need to eat more greens!" But overall, the city is quite magical and serene and romantic and full of stories and history and life and the people were friendly and the architecture breathtaking and pastry shops divine!
On my trip I went to Versailles and visited the Petit Trianon, and went to Chateau Malmasion and visited Empress Josephine's country house, and I went to the champagne region and had too much champagne, I spent days in the Louvre and not enough time in the Musée D'Orsay and fell in love with the new Ethnographic museum, Musée Branly. I had wine at sunset along the Seine (sunset was 10pm), I took a boat cruise down the Seine, I had a picnic at the Ile de la Cité (where Notre Dame is) and walked by the Conciergerie, Marie Antoinette's dungeon and I sat in the bars Ernest Hemingway got drunk at and everything was oh so inspiring.
But its hard to say in a posting or when people ask me what Paris was really like. All I can say is you just have to go there. It's a city that lives in the past, that remembers so much of where and how it came to be while at the same time, it is a city that is fighting to be remembered hundreds of years from now . . .
Click here for more pictures :) I am happy to be back in brooklyn!
Monday, July 9, 2007
Mark Ronson...
...is a stone fox. 'Nuff said.
Can he DJ at McCarren Park Pool ("in romantic downtown Greenpoint" aka "the most toxic place to live in America") every Sunday, please?
Mark's new album, Version sees its stateside release today. He will be playing a sold out show at the Highline Ballroom with an afterparty at Love tomorrow night in support and appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Thursday.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
T-t-tenderoni at S-s-studio B
Hot on the heels of their second release Fancy Footwork, P-Thugg and Dave 1 are hitting the road and spreading the Chromeo sound far and wide all over North America. Last night's stop: Brooklyn's one and only Studio B.
Rewind back to March when I said I'd never seen Studio B as packed as when we saw Diplo there. Now forget that. It doesn't even compare to the scene we encountered there last night.
Shortly after we got into the club, DJ duo Flosstradamus made their way behind the decks and not long after that Kid Sister took the stage. She warmed up the crowd nicely with cuts like "Damn Girl", "Pro Nails" and a slew of others and after a short intermission it was time for that band that's got their sound locked tight.
P and Dave played through much of the new album including the title track, "Tenderoni", "Bonafied Lovin' (Tough Guys)", "My Girl Is Calling Me (A Liar)" and "Momma's Boy." They also played a handful of tunes from the previous album such as "Rage!", "You're So Gangsta" and "Needy Girl".
The band was all smiles and noted that our show was better than the previous night at Hiro. The audience bounced happily, sang along and a few even joined the duo onstage (who didn't seem to mind one bit) for a little fancy footwork.
They were called back to stage for an encore with chants of "Chromeo - O OH!" (a la new album intro) and graced us with a cover of Journey's "Any Way You Want It" (of all things!) Two words: Bonafied awesome.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Questionable claim
Disclaimer: I am NOT a tree. For me to make assumptions about how trees feel and what they want out of life would be utterly preposterous.
That's not the case for you though, is it Six Flags? Really? Trees want to grow up to be giant wooden roller coasters? Wouldn't they actually prefer to grow up to be, I don't know, nice, tall trees?
At the risk of sounding dramatic, that's a little like me saying I want to grow up to be part of the Catacombs.
Give me a nice tall living tree over a large wooden atrocity outside my window any day!
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Band together, stop the madness
Is there some kind of magnetic pull that draws herds of Mr. Softee trucks and causes them to line the street outside McCarren pool on Sundays? And has anyone besides me had it up to here with the maniacal tune those treats on wheels emit?
But weirdest of all, has anyone noticed that the chant only increases in volume the further away you get from the trucks, making it nearly impossible to use those trucks as a point of reference to find your friends or your way around the area and also to get the song out of your head.
If I hear that tune one more time, I may go postal on the ice cream man. And I have a feeling I'm not alone.
So I'm proposing a boycott. I'm not buying anything from that franchise until they stop the noise.
Lucky for me, and those who choose to support my cause, there is no deficit of alternates for acquiring sweet frozen treats in or our of McCarren pool. There's a quiet guy with a small cart that stands near the entrance selling "Coco and Cherry" flavored "Helados." And once inside, you can purchase ice cream sandwiches for a mere two bucks.
So please people, don't encourage Mr. Softee. Let's end this noise pollution once and for all. Do it for me. Do it for you, Do it for Mr. Mr. Softee driver. Do it for our collective sanity.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
New covert watering hole in the Burg
You know you've truly found a special place when you can purchase a beer for $3.50 in a giant styrofoam cup, leave with it and drink it in the park with your homeslice while pondering what passes for hipster fashion these days.
Last Saturday was all about some Williamsburg. First on the agenda was McCarren Park where the Dirty South Crunkballers wiped the park clean against teams from Rhode Island and Brooklyn. Then we hit up Capone's for some beer and, of course, free pizza. (Where were you, hot bar back? Olive juice!)
With our bellies full and a lingering hint of thirst, we proceeded to the usual haunts, Union Pool and Barcade (I'm still in tears over missing the Wiimbledon tournament there two Sundays ago.)
On our way from Union Pool to Barcade, we stumbled upon a brand new spot. We frequent that area fairly regularly, yet had zero inkling that anything was even going up. I have two theories on why that might be, the first being our usual state when we walk by there (inebriation) and the second being the nondescript outside façade of this new joint. In fact, I didn't see a name anywhere or a street number on the outside. All I can say for sure is that it was sandwiched between 462 and 466 Union Avenue.
One step inside revealed a cool, trendy spot full of attractive people, perhaps a little hoity-toity for the burg. The best part is the back patio a la Union Pool, a must for summer and for smokers.
Will this new spot complete the trifecta of weekend Union Avenue must-hit places? Will I ever find out its name? Watch this space for answers to these conundrums and so much more.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Coney Island is so money, honey
A couple weekends ago, Sondra and I rode the F train all the way to its bitter end in sunny and somewhat skanky Coney Island.
The plat du jour being served over there was the annual Mermaid Parade. Since Disney purchased Coney Island, this would seem to be the last time this event would take place here and throes of freaks and barely dressed geeks made the journey in tow to celebrate the end of this era.
We watched the parade and even managed to score a decent spot where we could see, quite a feat for two girls who stand barely above 5'2".
After the parade, as if by fate, we ran into some old UGA chums and took it to the next level. Two Astroland Cyclone rides, at least one pirate ship run and what now seems like 50 beers later, we were dancing on the boardwalk and having the time of our lives. (They have DJ's out there every Saturday.) This was easily the best day of the summer thus far. It was also only the second day of the summer. It's going to be quite a summer!
As usual, I had to take it one step further by hitting up a bar in Clinton Hill with two guys named Evan afterwards. How often can you say that? And to top it all off, as we exited the subway in Park Slope, some people had set up telescopes and were showing everyone the moon and Jupiter! Only in New York
