Rain and shine at McCarren

You know you pulled off a killer weekend when it takes you until Wednesday to fully recuperate.

Friday night, Y and I caught up after work for some happy hour action in the EAV. We hit up our usual joint and then tried a new spot, Keybar. The key to that bar's success: Two for one until 10p.m., a nice change of pace for those of us who often get stuck in the office late, i.e. me.

Afterwards, we took our show over to the Burg where we scarfed down a pizza and a Yuengling at Capone's, made a brief appearance at Barcade and called it a relatively early night around 2 a.m.

The idea was to repeat this on Saturday night (taking it easy that is) but you know what they say about the best-laid plans...

I met up with some friends for the Sonic Youth show at McCarren Pool. We sipped on Brooklyn Lagers while Kim, Thurston and company played through Daydream Nation and five or so encore songs, including "Incinerate," "Reena" and "Do You Believe In Rapture?" Then, I accompanied my concert crew to East River bar.

To make a long story short, next thing I know, I'm stumbling home, the sun is coming up and all hopes of not shirking my Sunday responsibilities are long gone, much like my sobriety.

I managed to crawl out of bed the next day and wade my way through the puddles back to McCarren Pool for the free TV On The Radio show. S and I waited out the rain at nearby Enid's and when we ventured back over to the pool area, a nicely sized crowd had turned up in support of the local rockers.

We hung out while they played a considerably lengthy set for a free show (fifteen minutes over the usual closing time.) Katrina Ford from Celebration joined the band onstage and sang along. They played my favorite of theirs, "Dreams" and ended the set with that one TVOR tune we all know and love, "Staring at the Sun."

I wonder where I'll spend my weekends once summer ends and the pool closes. I leave you now with a handful of reasons why I love living in NYC:

8/3 CSS (free)
8/5 Blonde Redhead/I'm From Barcelona (free)
8/6 Lauryn Hill (free)
8/9 DAFT PUNK!!!
8/10 Au Revoir Simone (free)
8/17 The National (free)
8/24 Camera Obscura (free)

(And that's just one month!)