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2:41 PM
New York City. September 14th thru 18th 2005
I LOVE NY. ( I can say that now)
I got up at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday to catch a plane heading for NY. I was so nervous and excited that I couldn’t sleep the night before I really hadn’t slept since the previous night.I arrived in NYC by 7pm but didn’t get to my hotel until around 9:30pm. I wanted to go see Judah Bauer play at the Lit Lounge but didn’t make it. After I got settled in, I walked outside to the nearest pizza place and had a slice. *They say the worst pizza in NY is like the best pizza in LA. *something I read somewhere. My roomy and the band Sabrosa Purr arrived much later then me and they headed out to Times Square which wasn’t far from our hotel room as soon as they arrived. I didn’t join them because I was dead tired and it was something like 2am.I came prepared to sight see. I printed out everything from maps to the times and day’s museums were open!
Thursday I got up early but my roomy “Liz” didn’t get up until well after 10. I really wanted to head out and see as much as I can while in NY.We went shopping at all the huge 3 story shops first then had lunch at Houstons restaurant and just walked around trying to look for the Waldorf Astoria but never found it so we just grabbed a few bottles of wine (mine was in a pretty purple bottle which I kept) and headed back to our room to get ready for the Rock. Sabrosa Purr, Peter Walker, Silversun Pickups, La Rocca and last but not least…. The Vacation were all playing at Ace of Clubs. I was getting a bit drunk but not as drunk as Liz did. I met my friends who I haven’t seen in years – Natasha and Stacey and also Tony who I’ve been e-mailing for awhile. They all dug The Vacation but missed most of the other bands. Liz and I caught a cab back to the hotel where we met up with Sabrosa Purr in their “suite”. This place was huge! The hotel was pretty much a dump but cool none the less. It’s not worth the $400 bucks a night though, luckily we had triple A discounts which came out to be ½ the price. So yeah, everyone seemed really tired but for some reason I was UP and wanted to go have a drink and walk around the city at 2am. We (me liz and Richard “soundguy”) ended up at this pub (our soon to be 2am local hang out) called The Stout.
Friday morning I get up early and went on a coffee run to the local starbucks for Liz then we head out to see the city some more. We had to visit her friend who is an amazing jewelry designer – Catherine Michiels / and Shauna Hellwell. They were by Bryant Park selling their jewelry in a hotel suite. Their jewelry is in all the magazines these days with all the stars wearing 'em. There was a lot going on that week with Fashion week and CMJ happening in the same week. I bought a couple of bracelets from Catherine and we ended up hanging out with them for about an hour or so. They told us how to get to Central Park from there so off we went. We stopped in the Guggenheim museum gift shop first. We arrived at the resovoir entrance of Central Park and what a spectacular view that was! There was joggers everywhere just like in the movies. We walked and walked ……. and walked! And walked some more. I wanted to find the Alice in Wonderland bronze statue thing-a-ma-jig and about 2 hours later we did! I think we pretty much covered central park from about 103rd street all the way down to 59th street. We came upon this castle with a turtle pond…. I almost started to cry. I LOVE turtles so much! They were tiny turtles to. Aww. We saw strawberry fields then walked out to see the Dakota. Pretty awesome site to walk out of the park then see all these amazingly old buildings with so much history right there in front of you. I got all teary eyed standing out front of the Dakota also. We were so tired, our feet were killing us but on we went. We were also at Grand Central Station at some point in the day. That was also an amazingly huge train station. So beautiful. We called the boys after we were done site seeing for the day to see if they wanted to go on the Twilight cruise with us. I guess they were too tired because they didn’t make it. The cruise was well worth it. It was just so cool to see all the lights from the Hudson. We went past The Statue of Liberty and all I could think about was the Planet of the Apes movie! Of course now when I see movies that were made in NY I can say… oh I’ve been there and seen that in person. I really wished I’d have gone to see Zeke and Nashville pussy at CBGB’s that night but we opted to have a drink at Sbarros near our hotel instead. This guy at a table next to us started talking to me. He looked exactly like Keeanu Reeves. I ended up giving him my number thinking that we could hang out sometime the next day. He asked for a kiss goodbye as we left…. No, I didn’t start mackin’ on this guy in Sbarros. Ha ha. anyway, he never called.
Saturday – same thing, I get up early, go for the coffee run but I also walk around Times Square for about ½ hour. We head to the Empire State Building which was within walking distance from our hotel. I wanted to go at night like in “sleepless in Seattle” but we didn’t have a chance. It was ok, nice view but it was just a little hazy and way too crowded once you got up there. I lost Liz up there and our cell phones kept cutting out but soon enough we just met back up outside the building. We went back to Grand Central Station because we didn’t get to see all that much the first time. As we were walking around we came upon Jimmy Choo shoes, you know the shop were Carry bought her shoes in Sex in the City and right across the street from there was this fabulous restaurant called Tuscan Square (16 West 51st New York) it was delicious. The only thing that was a bummer is that they charged for each iced tea that you drank without telling you (thanks!) I had about 3 as usual. We then walked around Rockefeller Center and near NBC studios and came upon this really neat street fair where I ended up buying 2 rings. After a lot of walking it was getting late and I needed to get back to the hotel to get ready for my night out of Rock. Nobody wanted to go with me to the Pussycat Lounge to see the Blues Explosion and Blowfly so I went alone. I got there early after taking the subway a little too far or something, anyway I took a cab the rest of the way. He was the nicest cab driver out of my whole NY experience. He didn’t even want a tip from me but he did want my phone number. I walked around until the club opened and came upon Ground Zero without realizing it was right there! I immediately got this overwhelming feeling of sadness and started to cry. I called my buddy Bernie in Chicago to rub it in that I was about to see JSBX on stage in a few hours. I saw Russell Simmons just across the street from the club so I walked over and said hello. He really is a dick but was nice to me for once (sorry Bernie). I walked up the stairs paid my 10 bucks and had a drink next to Judah Bauer who remembered me right away. We talked a bit then he left with his friend to go find some food. I find a chair against the wall where I watched Sam Champion (pavement guy’s new band) I forgot that Noah was in Pavement until he started to sing…. I like Sam Champion just as I liked Pavement. Next up was The Giraffes, who I’ve never heard of before but while watching them the lead singer reminded me of some other hard looking heavy metal sounding singer with the sexy whiskey growl. I loved him instantly. The way he held the mic, his whiskey bottle and when he went into the audience of girls and sang to them while holding their head. It just turned me on. I had moved closer to the stage next to my soon to be friend Jason. He let me in front of him and suggested that I stand on the empty chair against the wall to get some better shots. Excellent suggestion that was! The Blues Explosion were next. I wouldn’t have been that excited to see them if I hadn’t already known that they were going to do my favorite album in it’s entirety (ORANGE). ……. Bellbottoms…. Bellbottoms…… yay! It was pretty great to witness. Jason and I talked a lot and ended up staying to see Blowfly. I know I’ve seen blowfly before but I think it was about 20 years ago at Bogarts in Long Beach. Needless to say it was one raunchy show! He sang of keeping your pussy clean and the like. They were called The Dix. I don’t know if Blowfly came out alone after that or what, I was confused with The Dix and Blowfly being on the bill. Jason and I left after The Dix and as I was about to go down that stairs I decided to check out the bathrooms first. There was this neat little room with a balcony for a better view of the show. Jon was hanging out up there. I waited in line and what do you know, no toilet paper. Lucky for me I always come prepared with kleenix in my purse for these special occasions. The girl after me was very happy about that as well. Ok so Jason and I were going to go have a drink because in NY the bars don’t close until 4am. We couldn’t find one but we did find this really cool old famous cemetery instead, the sprinklers were on or I would have gone in to take some photos. I really didn’t feel like drinking anyway so I bought us some bottled waters and we sat in this park to talk. I took a taxi back to my hotel and of course I couldn’t leave NY without getting screwed by a taxi driver, he took the absolute long way around on the expressway claiming that the streets were to crowded and it would have cost me more. I thought it was wrong when we passed like 3 bridges! The club was only a few miles away! Oh well. One good taxi, one bad. Live and learn.
Sunday morning I get up extra early to meet Jason and his friends Jason and Sadie for Breakfast in Greenwich village. We walked around a bit and found this cute little café and had French toast. Nice folks! I didn’t get to see as much of Greenwich village as I wanted to but enough to want to come back. I’ll have to visit SoHo and Tribeca and Chinatown next time. Liz was still in bed when I got back from breakfast, I had to go to the store to buys some “I love NY” junk so I did that while she got up. I was missing NY already while walking around knowing that I was about to leave. Liz walked me down to wait for my shuttle. On the way to the airport the shuttle guy drives by The Waldorf Astoria, The UN and a very cool Cemetery. Next time I will do the bus tour as all other tourists do in NY. ps – photos and links to follow by the weekend.
Thank you to everyone who gave me NY tips on where to go and what to see.
X O X O
Much love
Suze
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2:20 PM
Music: Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Fever to tell"
it's monday and i haven't blogged in a long-ass time.
too much death and destruction lately and not enough fun, i guess.
someone else died recently that i knew also. i only hung out with her a few times, she was a friend of a friend. she died of liver disease (?) too much alcohol and parting, i guess.
i've been laying low these past few weeks, staying home watching movies mostly.
this week i've seen or rented: Monster (kinda disturbing), the constant gardner, 40 yr old virgin, red eye and broken flowers. there are so many movies that are up and coming that i can't wait to see! i love getting to the theatre early to catch all the previews.
did i mention that i finally finished the book i had been reading for the past 4 months? yep, Old Gods Almost Dead was excellent. a lot of very interesting stories and information about the Rolling Stones. now i'm half way thru "Killing yourself to live" by Chuck Klosterman. this book is hilarious (thank you tony ormond!!)
well i'm heading to New York on Wednesday. i'm so excited! it's my first time. the land of no sleep, i've heard. i've got plans pretty much every day that i'm there.
Wednesday: either see Judah Bauer at the Lit Lounge (because the Dandy Warhols is sold out) or go to some fashion show party with my friend who lives there (hi stacey!)
Thursday: this night is going to be "off the hook" The Vacation got signed to Rick Ruben's label "American Recordings" Congradulations guys, i'm proud of you and i knew it would happen for ya!! i can now say "see i told you so" to some of my friends. they will be playing with Sabrosa Purr, Silversun Pickups, Peter Walker (grrr!), La Rocca and Joy Zipper. I LOVE ALL OF THESE BANDS! This will be a lot of fun.
Friday: i could either go see Dead Meadow or Zeke or Icarus Line or Snatches of Pink (who I haven't seen in about 15 years!). or I can just lay low and go sight seeing that night.
Saturday: I only have one thing on my agenda and that's to see The Blues Explosion do their ORANGE album in it's entirety! I can't wait for that. INC and BJM are also playing but I don't care!
I'm going to take a twilight cruise, see central park, flatiron building, WTC/ground zero, soho, greenwich village, museums, empire state building and some cemeterys. woohoo!
I finally get to see some friends who live there that either i haven't met in person yet or that i haven't seen in a year or two Natasha, Tony, Stacey and maybe Eric if he chooses to drive from Cape Cod to see me!
for more info :
CMJ
New York Fashion Week
I really haven't kept up on my "rock calendar". I will do better once I get back.
I've just been doing so good with saving money and gas by not going out at all...... I kinda like that!
XO
Suze
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1:19 PM
September 1st 2005
R.L. BURNSIDE DIED IN MEMPHIS
well... well... well....
that's three for me (Harry, Rosebud and now R.L. sad news)
breaking news...
Alex Chilton is M.I.A with the New Orleans Disaster
as well as Fats Domino.
... more breaking news. (8:30pm)
both guys were found! yay!
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