New York, New York…is so overwhelming in its colour, vibrancy and frenetic paced and theatrical excitement; I’ll need to revert to list format to cover the best bits.
Doing our washing at the local Laundromat (well overdue)
This was much as you’d expect, except we were so very happy to finally have clean clothes (as both of us have pretty much been wearing the same outfit every single day due to poor packing).
Museum of the City of New York
This was much better than I expected, even though large chunks of the museum were closed for renovations. It was actually a nice change to peruse a museum that was small enough to be easily digestible – and not be overwhelmed by the vastness of it all. The highlight was a beautiful short media presentation on the history of NYC, with informative narrative, stunning photographs and painted images shown on a three screen projector. If I was a local I would have cried with the joy of being part of such a monumental city. It’s easy to understand why New Yorkers identify so strongly as New Yorkers, and why they feel such pride in their diverse, sprawling city. The slide show covered the history of the city from its humble origins as a fur trading post for Dutch entrepreneurs to its present status as a megalopolis. Great show, and in typical NY style an elderly lady in the audience discovered some Welsh tourists sitting next to us and theatrically introduced them to the whole group. We lay low to remain anonymous…
The other highlight was an exhibition of the history of Harlem’s famed Apollo theatre. The theatre is where many blues, jazz and comedy stars were made (or sent packing back to their day jobs). The exhibition included photographs, stage notes, album covers, costumes and other paraphernalia from the beginnings of the theatre in the 1920s to the present day – it was a fantastic exhibition covering diverse performers from Michael Jackson to the Supremes, to Elvis Costello and some modern day rappers I am not cool enough to remember the names of.
CHIGAGO, Broadway (Ambassador Theatre)
I suppose this is the highlight of my life so far, really. I managed to book really good seats for us ages ago for a Tuesday date night surprise for JB – knowing he liked the musical after we watched the movie – and, coincidentally, Chicago is my favourite musical of all time, so that worked out well.
I can’t really describe this well enough to do it justice, but I was so excited I cried throughout the first few scenes. Only vain worries about smearing my liquid eyeliner helped me contain myself. Roxy Hart was played by a tiny little brunette, who was the cutest little thing imaginable – feisty and witty and unbearably hilarious. Valma Kelly was played by a tall, pale, athletic redhead with suitable fire and aplomb. The stage show included many songs and scenes not in the movie version, as well as far more humourand bawdiness. A lovely touch was some interactions with the audience (Mama – whose cans could rival Queen Latifa’s), as well as the orchestra being set right in the middle of the stage – the actors moved through a central passage of the orchestra pit to enter, exit the stage and often interacted with the players too. All my favourite numbers were infinitely better on stage than on screen. I don’t think I will need to see another stage production of Chicago again, as this one nailed it. Jamie said he liked it too! Winner.
Line of the show, Valma Kelly – after being usurped by Roxy Hart: “Well, ok. I’ll go then. But I won’t go quietly . Gimme my exit music!” as she climbed aloft 4 beefy guys and waved huge feather wings to orchestral fanfare, while exiting stage right.
The night was made even better by us sandwiching the show between glasses of wine at a tiny Italian restaurant/piano bar across the street. The blind piano player was a bit of a character and played all the classics – as well as coming to introduce himself to us and then dedicating ‘You are so beautiful” to us (well, to Jamie I think). He asked us for requests but since he’d already covered all my favourites I just asked for any Billy Joel, and so we sang along to Piano Man before finishing our wine and making our way home on the subway. Grand evening.
MOMA
The museum of modern art was superb, of course – but I think we were both overwhelmed at this point by the hugeness of everything, because we each only remember a few distinct paintings –Van Gogh stuck with me (I kept wandering back to stand in front of Starry Night, all starry eyed) and we both enjoyed an exhibition by women photographers. The Warhol was also awesome.
Dinner in Harlem, at Creole – with jazzzzzzzzzzzz
This dinner/evening was so good it deserved a special food review. Suffice to say here we had a fab night eating southern comfort foods and being regaled by local jazz personalities, while Ol’ Earl ‘Speedy’ Cadillac (I have no idea who he is yet – but he was utterly gorgeous and the singers gave a shout out to him) delicately ate his plate of fried chicken at the next table, gold-ringed pinky finger delicately lifted as he dined.
Day out in Brooklyn – vintage shopping in Williamsburg, and cheese in the park
I’d begged JB for ever I think to let me explore the vintage shops. He got some hot tips from little bro CB (thank you CB!) and I shopped to my heart’s content in gorgeous, laid back, bohemian student haunt Brooklyn.
Ladies – I can’t even begin to describe how f-ing cool the shopping was here (and you know I am quite partial to shopping on the odd occasion). Buffalo is a massive American chain of vintage stores where you can trade in and exchange your old clothes for new old clothes. The selection was phenomenal – and the prices almost made me lose my mind. I showed admirable self restraint, and after three hours shopping (while JB shopped, fretted, got a hair cut, fretted and waited) I had spent LESS than the price of a pair of good jeans in Perth and bought:
A new pair of low-top vans for strollin’
A pair of grey leather vintage Italian knee high boots for strutting (my other boots went to charity)
FCUK anorak/jacket – the Lumberjack also went to charity - free at last!
BCBG silk lounge/harem pants (dry clean only so they have to be sent home, sadly – prob not so good for cycling...)
Cute little pull on denim skinny leg pants
Crazy rainbow coloured mesh-top dress....and numerous silk blouses, silk skirt and three pairs of cute earrings.
It wasn’t ALL about me though and I helped JB get some cute narrow-toe Italian leather shoes and a funky sweater thing.
As if life could get any better – after that we found a cheese shop (thanks again CB) and picnicked in the local park on gorgonzola and brie with fresh bakery bread and Tuscan olives.
Best day ever.
Museum of Sex
Well, I thought this was pretty shitty in fact. I expected exhibits of erotic art through the ages (should have realised all the good art was in the four hundred billion other galleries around town...) and this was a very small and kind of tacky museum exploring sex in fil/media/entertainment. It was ok, just not brilliant, or even very good (and much of it closed for renovations too). Nothing stands out in my mind except that the coat check girl had a lovely dress on.
I guess really it was just too small to be good...
That’s it so far, ‘cause then we went to Washington.
Doing our washing at the local Laundromat (well overdue)
This was much as you’d expect, except we were so very happy to finally have clean clothes (as both of us have pretty much been wearing the same outfit every single day due to poor packing).
Museum of the City of New York
This was much better than I expected, even though large chunks of the museum were closed for renovations. It was actually a nice change to peruse a museum that was small enough to be easily digestible – and not be overwhelmed by the vastness of it all. The highlight was a beautiful short media presentation on the history of NYC, with informative narrative, stunning photographs and painted images shown on a three screen projector. If I was a local I would have cried with the joy of being part of such a monumental city. It’s easy to understand why New Yorkers identify so strongly as New Yorkers, and why they feel such pride in their diverse, sprawling city. The slide show covered the history of the city from its humble origins as a fur trading post for Dutch entrepreneurs to its present status as a megalopolis. Great show, and in typical NY style an elderly lady in the audience discovered some Welsh tourists sitting next to us and theatrically introduced them to the whole group. We lay low to remain anonymous…
The other highlight was an exhibition of the history of Harlem’s famed Apollo theatre. The theatre is where many blues, jazz and comedy stars were made (or sent packing back to their day jobs). The exhibition included photographs, stage notes, album covers, costumes and other paraphernalia from the beginnings of the theatre in the 1920s to the present day – it was a fantastic exhibition covering diverse performers from Michael Jackson to the Supremes, to Elvis Costello and some modern day rappers I am not cool enough to remember the names of.
CHIGAGO, Broadway (Ambassador Theatre)
I suppose this is the highlight of my life so far, really. I managed to book really good seats for us ages ago for a Tuesday date night surprise for JB – knowing he liked the musical after we watched the movie – and, coincidentally, Chicago is my favourite musical of all time, so that worked out well.
I can’t really describe this well enough to do it justice, but I was so excited I cried throughout the first few scenes. Only vain worries about smearing my liquid eyeliner helped me contain myself. Roxy Hart was played by a tiny little brunette, who was the cutest little thing imaginable – feisty and witty and unbearably hilarious. Valma Kelly was played by a tall, pale, athletic redhead with suitable fire and aplomb. The stage show included many songs and scenes not in the movie version, as well as far more humourand bawdiness. A lovely touch was some interactions with the audience (Mama – whose cans could rival Queen Latifa’s), as well as the orchestra being set right in the middle of the stage – the actors moved through a central passage of the orchestra pit to enter, exit the stage and often interacted with the players too. All my favourite numbers were infinitely better on stage than on screen. I don’t think I will need to see another stage production of Chicago again, as this one nailed it. Jamie said he liked it too! Winner.
Line of the show, Valma Kelly – after being usurped by Roxy Hart: “Well, ok. I’ll go then. But I won’t go quietly . Gimme my exit music!” as she climbed aloft 4 beefy guys and waved huge feather wings to orchestral fanfare, while exiting stage right.
The night was made even better by us sandwiching the show between glasses of wine at a tiny Italian restaurant/piano bar across the street. The blind piano player was a bit of a character and played all the classics – as well as coming to introduce himself to us and then dedicating ‘You are so beautiful” to us (well, to Jamie I think). He asked us for requests but since he’d already covered all my favourites I just asked for any Billy Joel, and so we sang along to Piano Man before finishing our wine and making our way home on the subway. Grand evening.
MOMA
The museum of modern art was superb, of course – but I think we were both overwhelmed at this point by the hugeness of everything, because we each only remember a few distinct paintings –Van Gogh stuck with me (I kept wandering back to stand in front of Starry Night, all starry eyed) and we both enjoyed an exhibition by women photographers. The Warhol was also awesome.
Dinner in Harlem, at Creole – with jazzzzzzzzzzzz
This dinner/evening was so good it deserved a special food review. Suffice to say here we had a fab night eating southern comfort foods and being regaled by local jazz personalities, while Ol’ Earl ‘Speedy’ Cadillac (I have no idea who he is yet – but he was utterly gorgeous and the singers gave a shout out to him) delicately ate his plate of fried chicken at the next table, gold-ringed pinky finger delicately lifted as he dined.
Day out in Brooklyn – vintage shopping in Williamsburg, and cheese in the park
I’d begged JB for ever I think to let me explore the vintage shops. He got some hot tips from little bro CB (thank you CB!) and I shopped to my heart’s content in gorgeous, laid back, bohemian student haunt Brooklyn.
Ladies – I can’t even begin to describe how f-ing cool the shopping was here (and you know I am quite partial to shopping on the odd occasion). Buffalo is a massive American chain of vintage stores where you can trade in and exchange your old clothes for new old clothes. The selection was phenomenal – and the prices almost made me lose my mind. I showed admirable self restraint, and after three hours shopping (while JB shopped, fretted, got a hair cut, fretted and waited) I had spent LESS than the price of a pair of good jeans in Perth and bought:
A new pair of low-top vans for strollin’
A pair of grey leather vintage Italian knee high boots for strutting (my other boots went to charity)
FCUK anorak/jacket – the Lumberjack also went to charity - free at last!
BCBG silk lounge/harem pants (dry clean only so they have to be sent home, sadly – prob not so good for cycling...)
Cute little pull on denim skinny leg pants
Crazy rainbow coloured mesh-top dress....and numerous silk blouses, silk skirt and three pairs of cute earrings.
It wasn’t ALL about me though and I helped JB get some cute narrow-toe Italian leather shoes and a funky sweater thing.
As if life could get any better – after that we found a cheese shop (thanks again CB) and picnicked in the local park on gorgonzola and brie with fresh bakery bread and Tuscan olives.
Best day ever.
Museum of Sex
Well, I thought this was pretty shitty in fact. I expected exhibits of erotic art through the ages (should have realised all the good art was in the four hundred billion other galleries around town...) and this was a very small and kind of tacky museum exploring sex in fil/media/entertainment. It was ok, just not brilliant, or even very good (and much of it closed for renovations too). Nothing stands out in my mind except that the coat check girl had a lovely dress on.
I guess really it was just too small to be good...
That’s it so far, ‘cause then we went to Washington.