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So there’s a man in Washington Square Park who feeds the pigeons. I see him nearly everyday when I go to the park at lunch. Not only does he feed them, he seems to know each one, calls them by name and lets them perch all over him. Sometimes he’ll have one on his head, several on his shoulders, and some on his arms.

Now, I love animals…But pigeons, really? I might not subscribe to the common phrase that pigeons are rats with wings, but they get plenty to eat in this city. And I sort of feel that feeding them just encourages them to bother the rest of us more. Ever since an unfortunate incident involving me sitting under a tree in Herald Square and and a pigeon perched above me, I’ve never particularly liked them. Of course, that taught me to be careful where I sit in the future!

You’d think having pigeons perched all over you might land you in a similar, messy situation…

It’s time once again for Lincoln Center’s for Midsummer Night Swing until July 26, 2008. The outdoor dance party features theme nights — including swing, salsa, disco, funk, and more. Like “Dancing with the Stars” but this is under the stars! Each evening begins with a dance lesson at 6:30 PM for dancers of all levels of experience. The live music begins at 7:30 PM.

Midsummer Night Swing events take place on Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center (Columbus Avenue between 62nd and 65th Streets). Most tickets for individual events are $15 (price includes dance lessons) and admission for Kids’ Day events is $5.
Click here to buy tickets or see schedule online or call 212-751-6500.

After spending the last few weeks on little things like getting married and honeymooning in Turkey, I’m back in the city! I thought a NY Philharmonic Concert in Central Park would be a fitting city gathering to catch up with friends in our first week back.

I love these concerts. I go to at least one every year, armed with cheese, wine, and a picnic blanket. It’s such a great New York experience. This year seemed even more crowded than usual – people were everywhere and, with the lack of walking paths, they had no choice but to walk through other people’s picnics. Even so, it was a good time. We had a larger spread than usual and better wine. The music included Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Sibelius and provided a great soundtrack for relaxing on a summer evening with close friends. The evening culminated in a bright, booming fireworks display.

Free events in NYC continue throughout the summer. This Thursday, Broadway in Bryant Park continues with songs from Avenue Q, The Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia!, In the Heights, and Pure Country.

Thieves in NYC are blatant assholes. Especially thieves who steal bikes or bike parts. Today while I was working, my bike nestled down on the loading dock with all the other bikes, someone stole my rear wheel. Thank you asshole, you gave me a good reason to walk a lot of blocks to a bike store to get a makeshift wheel. I say makeshift because what was taken from me wasn’t an ordinary rear wheel. It was a special hub that makes a bike with vertical dropouts (see half way down the page for illustration) convert to a fixed gear or singlespeed using an off center ‘eccentric’ axle. It’s the White Industries ENO hub. It was mated to an anodized red rim. It was part of a wheelset I had for about 7 years. I have been riding with it in NYC for the last 4. Moral here is don’t underestimate the asshole thief who knows his bike parts. The thief had to use an allen wrench to remove the wheel. Tomorrow when I park my bike on the same loading dock I am going to post a sign on my bike that reads:

Yet another excuse to live “the city”, and it’s also just right across the bridge.

Today, Empire Fulton-Ferry State Park, 4-8pm, Corner of Plymouth & Main Streets, Dumbo, Brooklyn

So my beard and I went to a movie last night. That’s right, I went to see a movie on opening night, in Manhattan. What the hell was my beard thinking? Well, it was thinking that Hellboy II was going to be freakin’ sweet. Which by the way, it was. Seeing a movie on opening night in NYC is kind of a punishing experience. I went to one of the theaters in Union Sq. to a 7:15 showing, which amazingly was the only show not sold out for the rest of the night. I bought the ticket an hour in advance and then went to grab a taco. I thought if I show up about 40 minutes in advance I should be near the front of the line. That is the last time I listen to my beard about this sort of thing. We got there and wham, back of the line, buddy. About 50 or so people in front of me. But they kept coming. Hordes of people showed up for the now sold out show. The theater was playing it in their biggest auditorium that has a balcony. The line kept stacking up, further and further it went. People were going to get their money back because they thought the line was too long (pussies, can’t wait in a line, sheesh). This is freakin’ opening night people… (more…)

Three years ago today, my friend Keith Alexander died in Brooklyn in a cycling accident. Keith was a lifelong Brooklyn resident and one of the original contributors to the NYC Metblog. I can hardly believe that it’s been three years already; it seems like just yesterday I was at a bar in Brooklyn with him, talking about music and technology and our crazy-ass friends and making the bartender’s life hell. I miss him a lot.

Today, BME News (site is not safe for work!) relaunched with a piece about Keith (interview link safe for work) as its lead story. Several people contributed their memories and thoughts about Keith, including me. Take a look, and if you knew him, share some memories of your own.

Good people of NYC – I bring to you today a terrible tale of office tomfoolery and very bad etiquette.

Needless to say, it is not for the squeamish, nor is it for the easily offended…

I had an odd situation arise at work the other afternoon.

There is this sales guy that works out of my facility, but we hardly ever see him. His office is up in the front part of the facility, out of the way of all the real work going on up in the joint. This cat works fucking banker’s hours – he rolls in around 11, and usually slinks out around 4. Which is good, because he’s a fucking idiot. I mean that, too. An idiot of the Highest Order, the kind of moron that refuses to come and do a little bot of production work, which would ultimately do nothing but help him sell our services to potential clients. Duh, right?

He also refuses to clean his office, which falls under the jurisdiction of SEAN IS KING KONG UP IN THIS PIECE, AND ALL Y’ALL MUST DO AS HE SAYS OR PAY A FUCKING PRICE. I sent the Director of Sales some phone pics of this fool’s sty of an office the other day, and needless to say, the DoS was not a happy man. Maybe twenty minutes later, I received an e-mail from the slovenly sales guy that said “Cleaning isn’t my forte, bro – I’m still a bachelor!”

Yeah. I bet you can imagine my response, right? Good.

His office is now as clean as it can possibly be, and he is not happy with the fact that I threw out his gym bag full of dirty clothes. He was also unhappy that I tossed out his stash of fuck-books he had under his desk. Whatever – I’m running a business here, it’s not like you’re staying with your weird Uncle Felix for the summer – we do work here. God forbid a client comes to the shop or something like that.

ANYWAY…

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There’s plenty of cool shit going down (including Graffiti Research Lab from Vienna) – tomorrow (10th July, 2008) at Alphabeta Shop on 70 Greenpoint Ave. (BROOKLYN) – 6PM – 1AM. One night only, that means – ONLY TOMORROW.

Be there, or be square.  :)

More info:
http://overspraymag.com/blog/?p=443

Before I get to the story, we’ve all run into this situation before. How far is too far? Eastside, Westside, Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn, Queens? For me, as long as I can get there by subway, it’s not too far. The PATH is usually a stretch for me, but I’ve been known to attempt a date out in New Jersey.

During my last family visit to Long Island, I stopped by my brother’s job to meet him for lunch. After my quick stop into the ladies room to primp, this guy walked out of the men’s room at the same time and smiled at me. Turns out, it was Little Dougie from the 5th Grade. Well, not so little anymore. I’m not sure what came over me but I ran over to him, gave him this huge hug and after some small talk, I told him to give me a call the next time he was coming into the city so that we could catch up. Thinking back, I find it amusing that I didn’t even consider telling him that this city girl would meet up on the Island for a drink. God FORBID!
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