The Ragged End Of Nowhere: September 2007

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Tempus Fugit

It still feels mostly like summer in NYC. Today it was 85 and humid but we've had a nice run of weather with cooler (70s) sunny days for most of the last couple weeks. I've been passing time in the most relaxed ways possible. Reading, doing crosswords, wandering the city and watching lots of baseball and other TV goodness. If you haven't seen Californication on Showtime (I know, the name sucks) I can't recommend it enough. Well not to everyone, but most of you. Saxondale is a genius English comedy from Steve Coogan about a retired roadie with anger management issues. Then there's Still Game, a Glaswegian comedy about pensioners in Craiglang. The accents are a bit thick for some but it's amazing and you can always watch it with the subtitles if you can't understand them. Of course you can't get either Saxondale or Still Game here yet, but they're out there to be downloaded. ANYWAYS...

I ventured over to Long Island City in Queens to visit an old friend. It's an old industrial spot just below the 59th St bridge and right across the east river from Manhattan. It's one of those 'future star' areas that are being remade with countless luxury condo highrises under construction and the slow creep of hip bars and restaurants.

The 59th St Bridge & East River...

The LIC...

While the whole lots-of-space-for-less-money aspect of living in places like this is tempting, I can't bring myself to want to leave my hipster enclave in Manhattan. Time Out New York just voted my neighborhood (Alphabet City) the best neighborhood (or 'hood', as they call it) in the city. Therefore I am cool. See? You get what you pay for.

Last night Sean & I went to MSG to see Bjork. The show was great and I fell for her all over again. There's something strange about the fact that Dispatch, who virtually no one has heard of and aren't even a band anymore, can sell almost 60,000 tickets in 3 days for the Garden and Bjork, who is a well-known favorite of critics and music fans alike can't even sell 3/4 of the place for one night. Nothing against Dispatch but how does this happen? Regardless, it was schweet.

Tomorrow it's off to SF for some west coast lazing and communing with the giant trees and whatnot. All praises to St. Hubbins. May he grant me 1 business-class upgrade (well 2 really...I have to get home too). Amen.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Up To Boston

On Sunday I rented a car and drove up to Boston to see the Red Sox play the Yankees. I hadn't been to Fenway in years (high school maybe) so I've been wanting to go for ages. I've been much more actively following baseball this season so it seemed like time to go. I paid way too much for tickets on Ebay and took my Dad for his wedding present. The weather was perfect and crisp. I wandered around Fenway taking pictures and soaking up the history. We ended up switching seats with some guy who wanted to sit near his kids which put us in the 2nd row of the fancy pavillion seats. They were up high but had a great view of the whole field. Plus the seats were roomy and comfortable, a far cry from the cramped, ancient wooden seats in the grandstand. Plus, there was waitress service. I took special enjoyment having delicious, hot clam chowder brought to my seat on a cool night. Small pleasures. The game was great with the exception of the Red Sox losing. It was a great pitching duel for most of the game between Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling. Schilling stayed in 1 pitch too long and with one swing that prick Jeter broke the tie with a 3 run home run. The Sox made a good run of it in the ninth though and got within 1 run with the bases loaded and David Ortiz up. He ended up flying out to end the game but at least it got exciting at the end. Of course the Sox are trying to find new ways to implode at the end of the season and are down to a 2 1/2 game lead for the division. Oh the pain of it all.

The view from our seats...

Yawkey Way...

Batting Practice...

Me, Dad & The Green Monster...

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Rocky Coast

Last weekend found me in East Boothbay, Maine. My Dad has a cottage on the ocean there and got married there on Saturday. The chapel is a nice little stone building right on the water. It was a nice, informal ceremony (I was best man) and the reception was on a sunset cruise around Boothbay Harbor. The weather was great and it was fun to see the over-50 set partying it up. I got tickets to see the Red Sox play the Yankees at Fenway next weekend for me & my dad, so that should be fun. For now I'm dodging the rain in NYC.

Inside the chapel at the rehearsal...

Sunset on the water...

My bowl full of 2 lobsters...

My grandparents cutting the rug...

Boats & stuff...

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Onward Journey

So I've been back in NYC for almost a week now. The jetlag is worn off, I've been watching baseball and doing crosswords and feeling pretty human again. Life is pretty open-ended right now except for a couple trips in September. One to Maine next week for my dad's wedding and one to SF for some redwood camping and general relaxing. The rest of the Eurofest tour went well. The lack of computer got old quickly and beds and decent food were few and far between, but that's just the reality of summer festivals. Every year there seems to be 1 or 2 bands that you cross paths with a lot. This year it was Sonic Youth and the Shins (not bad). We did a few festivals with each and a really cool TV show in London with SY that Nigel Godrich does. It was a treat to sit in the control room and watch him mix Albert and then SY. Overall, I'm glad my usual dose of Eurofestness was cut in half this year. It's much more enjoyable when it doesn't last for 3 months. Here's a bunch of photos from the trip...

Matt loves his wife-beaters...