when we was young, oh man did we have fun

it was another whirlwind weekend in new york, but i suppose i was due since it had been over eight months since my last visit!

stuff that happened:

on friday, i met up with one of my oldest friends and we enjoyed margaritas al fresco with some of his roommates before hoofing it over to a greek festival where we stuffed our faces. we pressed on to a dimly-lit dive bar before i decided that i needed dessert. my wish was granted in the form of nutella bread pudding at a neighboring restaurant.

saturday was governors ball with gleni and her boyfriend -- arguably the reason for my entire visit. all my pictures are here, but some highlights ...

-gleni had a harry styles water bottle that brought joy to everyone who saw it (or at least, me)

-FLOWER CROWNS ERRWHERE. we decided it was "the mark of the basic bitch." is that mean?

-we juuuust missed the awesomely named and just awesomely awesome diarrhea planet due to the dumb shuttle. but PAPA, the first band we did see, nearly made up for that with a song entitled "let's make you pregnant." and it's actually good!

-lots of people wearing stuff with pineapple print. no idea

-singing along with the crowd during fitz and the tantrums' "out of my league" = music festival greatness

-eating a red velvet ice cream sandwich with cream cheese ice cream in the middle

-people carrying around huge cutouts of arnold schwarzenegger and jeff goldblum, presumably for fun

-talking about skrillex the entire day even though we didn't care about him or have any intention of seeing him

-tinder matching with a guy named bone

-THE STROKES, obviously. i had seen them back in '06, also in NYC, and it remains in my top 3 concert experiences. they haven't toured in some time, and their new album is terrrrrrible, but they totally delivered and it was incredible. they opened with my all-time favorite song of theirs, "barely legal." nick valensi was still rocking his beautiful jesus hair and is still all guitar god-esque. julian, who was wearing a hawaiian shirt and looked like a bloated dad, is apparently back on the sauce because nothing he said made any sense and it was fantastic. gems included "ATTACK!", "stay cooooool," and -- in a wasted-valley-girl voice -- "thankyouguyssomuuuuch" and "yoloooo." during "hard to explain," i giddily screamed "this is the sound of my youth!" to no one in particular. because it really is.

-witnessing a guy, who was standing next to us during spoon's set, pick up a deflated beach ball and PUT HIS MOUTH ON IT TO RE-INFLATE IT. i'm still grossed out for him.

-laying on a blanket far away from the stage and listening to jack white shred the night away

after gov ball, i got a miraculous second wind and there were more margaritas (and tacos) at some place in williamsburg, followed by another dive bar where we met up with some of gleni's friends and discussed a true catfish story for almost three hours. i have absolutely no idea how i made it 'til 3am, but it was all quite exciting.

on sunday, brunch with my friend jeff at the grey dog in chelsea was the perfect end to a great weekend. i swear to god this place must have been the inspiration for that central perk place from friends. loved it. and its french toast!

...speaking of catfish, the unlikely theme song of the whole weekend was from another band that i missed at gov ball, catfish and the bottlemen. terrible name, but i happened to hear this song last week and i've been hooked ever since. enjoy!

unique new york

last night, i returned from a weekend trip to new york city...as always, it was a blast. i hadn't been in approximately 3 years, which is WAY too long considering that like 75% of my friends live there. so, a few months ago when my good friend gleni asked me to be her friend-date to a superchunk show in september, i figured it was a fantastic excuse to make my way back to NYC. highlights & pictures below!

immediately upon my arrival, i navigated the subway with a nice british woman who was on my boltbus from boston, and met up with my loooongtime friend jacob (seriously, kickin' it since sixth grade). as an appropriate first stop, we grabbed some hipster lattes and macchiatos at gorilla coffee in park slope and i felt really uncool.

after a brisket and potato salad dinner at dale talde's brooklyn BBQ joint pork slope, i enjoyed some whiskey sours and manned the jukebox with gleni at this great little bar next door called the high dive. they had all these homemade mixes, so my selections included urge overkill's "sister havana," brian jonestown massacre's "vacuum boots," and the replacements' "bastards of young." nailed it, even if we were the only ones paying attention.

on saturday, i had a mini-reunion and mega-ramen at momofuku noodle bar in the east village, with three of my friends from marist. pork buns and spicy miso ramen 'til i die, basically. it was lovely to see everyone, and the food was delicious! 

after lunch, gleni and i strolled through washington square park, where we saw a rainbow (top of the post), and this really cool dude who was entertaining passersby with marionettes he had made. in the second picture, the woman standing with him is his inspiration for the marionette! it was awesome and uniquely new york. 

then, we strolled through the west village and went to the big gay ice cream shop, which really needs no explanation. i got the "bea arthur," and gleni got the "salty pimp." solid.

we pressed on to the DUMBO art festival (that stands for down under the manhattan bridge overpass and has nothing to do with the disney elephant). it was a gorgeous day, and there were some really cool pieces!

before we headed to the show that night, we refueled with some kiiiller iced coffee at caffe vita on the lower east side. we were in search of a bite to eat (which ended up being this incredible sesame pancake with peking duck at vanessa's dumpling house) when i saw the sign below and just had to take a picture.

while i was trying unsuccessfully to get a good shot, this kid comes up to me and asks if i would take a picture with him. i did it, asking if it was for a dare or something. 

"sort of," he says. "are you in college?"

i laugh. "no! i'm old." 

"you don't look old!"

he comes back a minute later with his little posse, asking if i'll do him a big favor. 

"will you give me a kiss on the cheek?"

"it's for a skateboarding video!" his long-haired friend pipes up.

clearly, i HAD to do it at this point, right?

beaming, he walks triumphantly away, yelling, "you made my night! NEW YORK, baby!"

i'm so glad i could make this young man's cougar dreams come true, but i just know this photo is going to resurface someday. or next week. 

finally, the original purpose of this weekend...SUPERCHUNK! i had seen these guys before a few years ago, and once again, they did not disappoint.

the best part of superchunk shows is that the audience is literally all 40-something dudes trying to relive their early '90s glory days. i don't really know why. ladies, superchunk is great! listen to them. anyways, there is never a line for the women's room, and most of the guys are all married 'n junk so the creep factor is minimal. but seriously, you haven't lived 'til you've shouted along to "slack MFer" with a bunch of balding, middle-aged men. you just haven't. there were, however, 3 women in their late 30s in front of us having the BEST time, and gleni and i immediately saw ourselves in 10 years.

eleanor friedberger from the fiery furnaces came out to sing a few tunes, and i think there were 2 encores. it was crazy and fun.

we stopped for a nightcap on the way home at this laid-back bar called the magician, which had a great vibe. one of my favorite things about new york is that i can never see it all when i visit. i'll be baaaack!