Bombay (Mumbai) suffered a horrific terror attack when a series of bomb blasts on 7/11 left more than 200 people dead and hundreds injured. The whole event was extensively covered by the Mumbai Metblogs crew, of which I am a part.
This Friday, all New Yorkers have the opportunity to show solidarity with their brethren in Bombay by attending a Fundraiser for Mumbai Blast victims.
Details below the fold.
That’s Of Montreal and the rather impressive crowd.
Yesterday I got a call from a high school friend whom I hadn’t seen in years. I had a feeling he was going to tell me he was in town. And he did. He’s a roadie for Of Montreal and promised me VIP access if I came out to McCarren Park’s Pool Parties. Being unable to resist VIP access, I placed my skinny butt on my bike and road the hell up to WBurg.
It was lovely to see my friend and run into some other kids from the past couple years. The slip and slide looked way fun but I couldn’t bring myself to stand in the huge line.
These parties are every Sunday for free and the lineup for the rest of the summer looks amazing. Especially August 13 being DJ’ed by ?uestlove and September 3 being DJ’ed by The Rub. Dance party, pool party, everything.
It is with utter destitution that I tell you on August 10th we are losing the incomparable Anna Weichselbraun to France–BOO! We’ll just have to fill the empty, gaping void in our hearts by reading all about her exploits at Metblogs Paris and counting the days until she comes back to us.
Tomorrow we’ll be sending her off right with a trifecta of NYC Metblogs favorite things–cheap beer, free pizza and air conditioning! We’ll be taking our maiden voyage to the Crocodile Lounge (sister to the Alligator Lounge in Williamsburg) on 14th Street between 1st and 2nd. Won’t you join us?
Anna’s Farewell Extravaganza!
Tuesday August 1st
Crocodile Lounge
14th Street (between 1st and 2nd)
7:00 PM
Photo from Slice’s Photostream
Due to power problems in Queens I was out of electric for 8 days,the problem was finally solved but not for me; today is the 16th day, I still don’t have internet, I’d almost become friend with the Time Warner cutomer representatives since I keep calling them everyday. I’d started to recognize their voices:) Before I start to write my recent musical experience I want to thank to my linksys usernamed neighbour who enabled me to share his wireless internet by not putting any password:)
With one of my friend’s referral I went to see “The Producers” in St James Theatre last week. Eventhough I’d read many reviews about the success of the musical ,I was still not sure what to expect from a 12 Tony award-winning play.
It was fantastic, not only the choreograhy held by Susan Stroman but also the costumes, lighting, music and lyrics which were all written by Mel Brooks himself…
“The Producers” is the staged musical comedy version of Mel Brooks’s 1968 film of the same name,it was adapted as musical comedy in 2001 and since then it has been one of the most popular musicals in Broadway. Unfortunetely I haven’t watched the movie version and couldn’t get the chance to compare the musical and the film versions like most of the audience did but people were saying that most of the jokes and the scenes were taken from the movie.
I think it is one of the must sees in New York…
Last I heard, architect Robert Scarano had 25 real estate development projects “On Hold” pending an administrative trial set for to begin July 12th. I’ve scoured the news and the blogs and have found nothing about the results of this trial that should have started over 2 weeks ago. So what’s the status?
Quick recap–if you remember, the hearing was to decide whether Scarano had crossed the line self-certifying his own projects that were all WAY too big based on the square footage allotments. The big question was whether or not Scarano was just going to get a slap on the wrist or if some of these tremendous and nearly complete buildings would need to knock a few floors off. Scarano also came under fire for supposed negligence at 3 job sites in Brooklyn and one in Manhattan, where excavations he was supposed to be supervising left neighboring properties “structurally unsound” and in one case resulted in the death of a construction worker.
Now, I live within a few blocks of two of these properties, The Casa at 92 Conselyea Street and the monstrosity that used to be 59, 61 and 63 Conselyea Street. As you can see, according to the building department’s website both these projects are still “On Hold”. That doesn’t explain why we’ve seen work going on every day, or am I misinterpreting the meaning of the words “On Hold”? Regardless, if they are allowed to still work while the project is “On Hold” surely they can’t apply for a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) right? Right?!?
Passing by The Casa last night, I witnessed some lights on. Upon further inspection you can see furniture, lamps and houseplants. This afternoon, there were curtains up on the windows. Has someone moved in? Surely they can’t do that without a C of O. Or I guess you can if you pay off the right people, huh?
More infuriating discoveries after the jump…
(more…)
I finally ate the pricey vegan cupcakes at BabyCakes. It was worth it. Definitely amazing. Try out the Vanilla, it’s dopetastic.
After taking care of some filming I had to get done, I went around looking for interesting people and things to shoot on camera. There was a guy playing saxaphone on the corner of Allen & E. Houston and so I taped him for a while. But soon I realized that he is Holla Back NYC’s worst nightmare. In between songs, he gathers his friends for weed and can be heard saying things like “hey baby, I like that arch” or “yeah I’m brash because I play brass” and then he laughs in his dirtiness. So ladies if you see this man, beware.
After ingesting his womanizing and his brashy request for my phone to call to his weed dealer, I felt like going elsewhere. I was a bit peckish having not really eaten anything so, I went with a friend to Zozo’s Juice bar and grille. There I indulged in their French Fries with Fresh Garlic and Parsley. Honestly the best thing to eat at 11:30 at night.
And then I cruised home while listening to Rod Stewart’s “Young hearts be free tonight” A very appropriate closing for a fun night. (Photo courtesy of babycakesnyc.com)
In Woody Allen’s new movie, Scoop, journalism student Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson) is given a tip for a hot story from beyond the grave. Apparently young and dashing Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman) is the Tarot Card Killer, a Jack the Ripper type who has been terrorizing London with a string of murders of dark-haired prostitutes.
Through ruse after ruse, Sondra tries to catch the killer, only to fall in love, all the while with bumbling magician, Master Splendini – aka Sid Waterman (aka Woody Allen) – inexplicably in tow.
(more…)
I think I saw native New Yorker and Top Chef winner, Harold Dieterle, at the 77th St. station on the Upper East Side this morning. Dieterle, if it was him, was better-looking in person, not as schlumpy as he is on TV. His My Space profile says he’s single, but a petite blonde woman was with him. He looked annoyed because his MetroCard didn’t work and went to the ticket window for help. Good luck!
I couldn’t find any info on when the next season of Top Chef will begin. All I know is that original host, Katie Lee Joel won’t be returning with her nasal self.
Now how about Project Runway? Here’s my take so far:
Malan was a freak but he actually came off as really sweet in Episode 2. He owned up to the weird dress he designed and said that he should be kicked off, not his teammate Katherine. And then he cried as he said goodbye to his castmates. Aww!
I hate Angela. She was amazingly annoying trying to sucker Kayne into working with her on the pageant dress, and then such a terror to poor, crazy Vincent as he did all the work and she sat back and endlessly criticized. She should have been kicked off last night, not Katherine, who made such a cute hoodie for her dog (tiny dogs: one of this season’s hottest accessories).
Speaking of Vincent. What a nut. The basket hat. The way he laughed like a mental patient over the hat (sensing a theme here?) he made for his dog in Episode 3. Much more entertainment to ensue.
Keith is kinda hot but he is also kind of a dick. Or rather, he seems very much like a dick so far. But he’s still hot.
Next week someone gets kicked off because they broke the rules. Ooooo!
The freaking thunderstorms last night during the Philip Glass concert in Prospect Park were beautiful. They added character to the already beautiful music score to Dracula. Half of NYC must have been in that park and everyone skidaddled after hearing the words,
We’ve been tracking the radar for quite a while and it is just too close & dangerous for us to continue the concert any longer
But one of the best moments of last night besides the mass exodus under the fat droplets of rain were the cheers when Bela Lugosi came onto screen announcing “I am Dracula”
All photos from heartonastick’s flickr photostream
Went out and caught this show live at Irving Plaza last night and not only does his band win the award for “Best Freaking Band Name EVER!” but they immediately rocketed to the top of my list as one of the best live shows I’ve seen in ages. In fact, I’m hard pressed to remember another show where I had this much fun. And heard music quite this good.
If you have no idea who the hell Butch Walker is then you aren’t reading the credits of your Arvil Lavigne, Pink and Lindsay Lohan, etc. albums–for shame! This man has become the go-to person for well written, pristinely produced power-pop, and while I don’t enjoy any of the above listed “artists” it’s hard not to appreciate his song writing and producing skills. And they are mad skills indeed.
Butch has released two other solo albums since he left the band Marvelous 3, the insanely-catchy and anthemic power-popesque “Left of Self-Centered” and the slightly overbearing emo-refic “Letters”, but now he’s back with a full band (there’s 7 of them onstage) and he’s strutting his stuff to a T-Rex/Bowie 70’s glam kinda awesomeness all his own. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he penned this album after watching the film “Velvet Goldmine“. Some of the tracks on this album “The Rise and Fall of…” are so damn T-Rex-ified that at a bar the other night my boyfriend commented that the song playing sounded kinda like Butch’s new stuff. I told him it was the other way around, since said song happened to be the classic “20th Century Boy” by the aforementioned T-Rex. Yes, I know my 70’s glam cold.
More butchness after the jump…
(more…)
