Photo from Wikipages.com

I had a very musical evening last night. It all began in the Grand Central subway, where I met up with a friend who was playing trombone in the terminal. Her band, called the Dramatics band, includes 2 trombones, a trumpet, a saxophone, and some awesome drums. They play jazz/ African fusion tunes in various subway terminals nearly every day of the week.

We went with her to Le Poisson Rouge, a relatively young venue in the West Village. There was a $10 cover for an evening of 2 shows, something I won’t normally pay. When you walk into the establishment, you’re greeted by a hanging fish tank and a dark room. The performances occur downstairs, through a red lobby with interesting throne chairs, in a large dark room with a spacious stage and ample seating. The space lacked the dinginess many other musical venues in the area possess.

The show last night began with Ethan Iverson, an inventive pianist. He played innovative renditions of a variety of jazz standards. My favorite was Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, which he played with melancholic intensity. Some of his other playing was a bit too much for me, a non-musician, but he clearly has a lot of talent. Next up was Gabriel Kahane and his band, a singer-songwriter group.  The band’s charming leader had me cracking up with his humorous anecdotes that punctuated their songs. I was most impressed with their violin player, Rob Moose, whose fast fiddling stole the show. We left as they continued their set, but had thoroughly enjoyed a melodic evening.

Read into this however you like. This is out in front of the 23rd St. Pick-A-Bagel, which has fine bagels nd I highly recommend.

Photo by Nathan Bullock

Last week marked a historic election and true milestone for this country. But while so many people celebrated, looking with hope to the future, the country suffered a hit to civil rights more reflective of its past. Proposition 8 (a ban on gay marriage) passed in California, along with other anti-gay rights measures in Florida and Arkansas. Last night, I joined a protest against prop 8 here in New York.

Since many people, including myself, invested so much energy into the presidential election, opposition to proposition 8 did not receive its needed support until too late. Now that it passed, protests have erupted all over the country. Last night, New York City joined the list of protesting cities. Gathering in front of a Mormon church (one of the biggest promoters of the proposition), a large crowd came together with signs and chants to peacefully show their opposition to the gay marriage ban. Read more

John Roleke, Queens blogger, needs your help. For all you Queens-ites, vote on the best and worst in several categories — including politics, development, neighborhoods, restaurants, sports, potholes
and other ones he wants you to come up with!
This is your chance to express your opinion!

Now that the time has changed we are heading straight on to the end of the year. I find the light to be absolutely beautiful this time of year.

If you want to see a great picture gallery of this year’s Village Halloween Parade, click here.

Photo credit: Jeanne Fleming/Wikimedia Commons. Picture from the 1998 Village Halloween Parade. Notice the Twin Towers lit up in the background.
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Thank you Pamela Skillings, About.com’s Manhattan guide.

Photo from cnn.com

I went to vote right before work at a local Astoria school. The line was out the door - much longer than previous elections (though this is my first time voting there in a presidential election). But I was happy to see everything was well organized. All voters were directed to separate lines for their district and then separate lines for signing and voting. I felt so anxious as I waited, but I was happy looking around at all the people who came out to vote. When I got in that booth and pulled those levers (I love that we use levers!), I had a good feeling.

So brave those lines and vote! Remember “bad officials are elected by good people who don’t vote.”

80's forevaaa

As the 2008 elections come closer, it is now more clear than ever before that the world has an important stake in this election. So, coverage of the U.S. economy and events are primary content for many international news channels. A particular channel called Zee News is broadcast via satellite into the homes of many Indians in the U.S. While they seem to do an OK job on capturing Indian sentiments on the U.S. situation (they interviewed parents with kids studying in American universities last night) when they tried to get the U.S. point of view, their footage was limited to B-roll (video you see when there is voice over going on in a newscast) from the 1980s.

How did I know that the footage was from the 80s? Well, they showed Wall Street with people that looked like our friend in the photo to your left. Lots of people looking like him were walking around and the analog quality footage, graffiti reminiscent of a scene from “Coming to America” sprayed on the back of a newspaper van were also key indicators that we were watching OLD footage. After this, they cycled through footage of Capitol Hill and some other random 80s shots of U.S.—completely unrelated to the topic at hand. So, is this how the world views the U.S. still? I hope not.

Unfortunately when I watched the Zee News cast, I was at an Indian vegetarian restaurant in Queens with no one to share the comedy with. I’m glad I have you beautiful people to do that with here. If you want to see more 80s photos, go this blog.

Photo from broadwayworld.com

I went to see Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, starring Kristen Scott Thomas. A long-time fan of the play, I’d never seen it on the stage and was excited for this London-born (Royal Court Theatre) version to come to Broadway.

After dinner at good old Don Giovanni’s, we headed over to the theater a few blocks away. The scenery was perfect: minimal, yet set the mood. The first act set consisted of several trees dappled on the side of the stage and the side of a house.  As the actors took their places, you could almost feel the cold of a chilly, Russian evening (actually, it was pretty freezing in the theater, so you could feel it).  The costumes were stunning and perfect, making me envy these bored Russian aristocrats. Set, costumes, and characters came together to draw the audience into this production. Read more

I enjoy the Fall in New York City.