nycultureblog.com

Getting Back to the Music
Right around New Years, I discovered and began to use LastFM pretty heavily. I was formerly a Pandora user, but lately, interrupt ads have been really annoying me, so I made the switch.

Now, the two web radio giants certainly each have their strengths, but one of the coolest things I’ve been enjoying on LastFM is the tour tracker. When a group/artist in your library is on tour, you can see where they’re going, which may actually lead to me seeing some live performances for a change.

The first instance of this was a show that I found when adding a song from Mike Doughty to my library. The on-tour tag showed up next to his name, and I thought, “huh, I wonder if he’s coming to NYC soon?” Turns out he’d be in the West Village in just 2 days at the City Winery. Huzzah! I decided I was going, and rounded up one of my more musically inclined friends to accompany me.

The City Winery
The city Winery is, to me, a very strange venue. The places is clearly meant to give the impression of a reasonably high-end wine bar, as evidenced by the drink prices and the seating arrangements, but there is something a little off about this cavernous locale. In any case, it turned out that the only tickets that were affordable at $20 were for barstools along the back of the room, and the drinks started somewhere around $10 bucks. So my friend and I took our seats, ordered nothing and chatted for a while before the show came on.

Mike Doughty and…a Cello!
After an opening act which I frankly didn’t pay that much attention to, Mike Doughty came on. But rather than have some kind of backup band, or playing solo, he chose to bring a cellist with him. It made for some very interesting takes on the old familiar music, especially “Circles” which was a big hit from Doughty’s days as the front man for Soul Coughing.

Doughty and his Cellist put on a good show, but they didn’t even go on until about 10:30, and this is NOT adrenaline pumping club music. Actually, it’s more akin to lullabies, and that combined with the relatively late hour and the drinking I’d done earlier meant that I was all but asleep by the end.

The Bottom Line
Skip the City Winery. I just plain didn’t like it. It was too crowded and open to be intimate, but too expensive and atmospheric to feel comfortably casual. And there are myriad beams and supports that block your view of the stage if you’re there for a show. The multiple plasmas they installed, clearly in an effort to compensate for the poor lines of site, just can’t make up for the fact that it’s hard to see that stage.

As for Doughty, it was just a bad combination of timing and location. Had he gone on 2 hours earlier, and in a venue that’s not quite so…well lame, I’m sure the evening would have rocked exponentially harder.

Back in Brooklyn
Last week I took the plunge and went out to GreenPoint for a show my friends were putting on. Definitely a long trek, and well outside of my current comfort zone, but it was strange how familiar the landscape felt once I got there. I haven’t been back to Brooklyn in a long time, and I’ve never been to this particular neighborhood, but it wasn’t far from where I lived for a short time in Williamsburg. Seems like the current theme of my life is a tendency toward nostalgia, and if that’s the case, then this definitely fit the bill. Quiet streets, low brick buildings, nondescript bars and shops, no discernibly central thoroughfare (to non-locals at least)…all smacks of what I remember from living in Brooklyn in my early New York Years.

In any case, after about a 50 minute trip on the not-so-iconic, and occasionally reviled, J and G trains, I found my friend in the Nassau subway station trying to get some equipment up to the street. I lent him a hand and we got his granny cart filled with amps and other electronics over to the venue, which was mercifully close to the train.

Matchless Performance
The show went down in a bar, Matchless, that has what appears to be a converted garage attached to it. I found that tremendously amusing, and if not ironic, then perhaps post-ironic? A noise show put together by a guy who goes by the handle “Acid Marshmallow” in a venue that is, in actual fact, a garage? C’mon, you can’t make this stuff up!

So you’ve probably gathered that this is all a pretty home grown operation. The guys involved mostly make no money whatsoever off these shows, and sometimes shell out for expenses like transporting equipment just for the chance to play. They’re not really out to hit it big with this particular iteration of their music, I’m told, though I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if they did. They’re really doing it for the love of the art, the practical upshot of which is that to an uninitiated listener (I.E. me) the music can come off as strange and jarring at times. Still there were altogether awesome moments. Let me see if I can even begin to explain…

Charming Snakes with the Electric Trumpet
Grasshopper works with a lot of electronic equipment doing noise distortion with a mix of traditional instruments, and stuff like the electric trumpet, which apparently hasn’t been produced in quantity since the late 70s. Picture a flat, black, foot-long rectangle with a sort of stocky, flat cylinder stuck to the bottom. They also employed what looked like an electric footpedal and what I’m guessing were some sort of synthesizers to modulate and loop the music, though I unfortunately don’t have the background to be certain.

The show started with something that I could most closely identify as snake-charming music, if it were to be played by some sort of industrial robot. The sound quickly modulated from there, and would go on to defy all attempts at description shortly thereafter. As I listened through the 20+ minute long jam, I found my mind putting together new and bizarre combinations of experiences to explain what I was hearing, but I’m afraid it wouldn’t make much sense in retrospective analysis.

Ultimately the music became a very personal experience. The weird cadences were so utterly unlike anything I’d musically experienced before that it forced me into a very exclusive bit of head space, connected to the music and the scene, but also aloof from it. Grasshopper managed to keep up this hypnotic dissonance right through to the end of their jam session, at which point they broke into a new jam with regular brass trumpets building on top of the stuff they’d already looped in the synthesizer. I’ve gotta say…that f*cking ROCKED! I don’t use the phrase “melt your face off” often, but I think the term applies here.

The Bottom Line
The bottom line is, the noise music scene is definitely challenging for casual listeners like me, but there is a lot to it if you give it a chance. Grasshopper is a group composed of two classically trained musicians with something like 5 music degrees between them, so don’t be fooled into thinking that there’s no method to the madness. Just relax and have a pair of earplugs handy, and I promise you’ll hear something unlike anything you’ve heard before.

My experience with House music is admittedly limited, but this past Saturday I was convinced to go see the stylings of DJ Hernan Cattaneo. We bought tickets online for the show for $30 which felt a little steep, but I was willing to give it a shot, so at 10pm we got in a cab and headed out.

The Mansion is a club in the Meat Packing district that we almost walked right by at first owing to a general lack of signage that I’ve come to expect of trendy Meat Packing clubs, but once we got inside we quickly realized how huge the place was. After dropping coats off upstairs, we descended down to the bar area. Actually, the first bar area was more like a very large anteroom, with the main club area lying deeper in.

After crossing a hallway flanked by flaming beds of stones, we were in the heart of the club. A large bar and a VIP area in front made up the main room, with an upstairs lounge circling the back of the club. Early on, I realized the bar was too expensive for my blood at $10 for a shot and $16 for mixed drink, so I determined it would be a sober evening. I did try ordering a glass of water, but it was crowded, so I waited for about 10 minutes to get a bartenders attention, only to wait another 10 minutes to get it after I’d ordered it, which made my already sober experience just that much more unpleasant.

Upstairs was muuuch better. It was less crowded and had a better view of the DJ booth giving us a good place to settle in and dance, which we did for five hours straight! The house DJ opened, and for the most part was pretty awesome, though unfortunately I don’t know his name. Hernan Cattaneo was also good, and the club’s special effects kicked into high gear for his performance with strobes, giant jets of fog, and dancing girls in their underwear. He did nearly make my ears bleed with about 2 minutes worth of straight feedback noise, but otherwise the entire show was spot-on.

The bottom line is that this club is way too expensive to go to unless you really love house music and a club scene with perhaps a touch of euro-flavor to it. The tickets weren’t cheap, the drinks were egregious, and the VIP area was bottle-service only with $1000 price tag attached. That being said, if you avoid the expenses and stick to the balcony area, you’ll be fine. I wouldn’t recommend this spot though, unless you have a very specific reason for going.

A few nights ago, I was treated to a somewhat alternative, but totally awesome night of entertainment by some of my business associates in the search engine industry: Scratching lessons at the Scratch DJ academy on 6th ave. Not your usual night on the town to say the least, this experience was both novel and educational.

We arrived around 7:00pm with a group of about 15 people (I assume that our friends rented out the space for a few hours to entertain us) and headed up to the second floor where the DJ academy is located. Inside, we were greeted warmly by our scratch sensei for the evening, Master Instructor J-Smoke, who introduced us to one of the vital pieces of equipment in the DJ industry, the turntable, as well as our TA’s, J-Smoke’s fellow DJ instructors at the academy.

Scratch 101
We each got to man our own turntable stations complete with a pair of turntables/records, speakers and a mixing board. Since I’m not amazingly sophisticated in the area of music, I’ll gloss over the minutiae of how these devices work and assume that most people understand the basic principal: the record spins, you push it forward and back to create the scratching effect. With about 10 minutes of basic instruction under our belts, we were all scratching up a storm!

Now I’ll be the first to admit that music is not my forte. I struggled to learn the recorder in middle school and I still struggle with music and instruments to this very day. That being said, scratching was really fun! It would probably take years to master, but getting started is relatively simple, and even if you’re pretty much tone deaf like I am, its still cool to scratch around. Sometimes you even get lucky and scratch up something that sounds good! I’m sure that people who have actual musical skills and talent would find this even more rewarding, but it just goes to show that even as a musical neophyte, you can still have fun!

DJ Names and the DJ Battle
After being shown several basic scratches, we were offered the opportunity to square off in a no-holds barred DJ battle to the death! Okay, no one actually died, but that’s not to say it wasn’t serious business! We had a few people with some actual experience, so in that sense there was no contest, but we all got to steal our nerves and get up front on the instructors turntables and try our newly acquired skills in front of all our friends. I’m pretty sure my 30 or so seconds came out as a discordant mess, but wha-wha-what’s a few errant beats among friends, right? Ultimately, almost everyone gave it a shot, and some were even pretty good, so we all had a great time watching and listening, and the winner actually got a Scratch Academy T-shirt. Pretty sweet, no?

Private Party
Since we were a private party, we got the big seminar room and instructors to ourselves, and after we finished, our benefactors passed around some cold beers and pizza, and we had an improvised dance party, compliments of J-Smoke. All in all, we were there for a good 3 hours, but I can’t offer any kind of value comparison since I was there as a guest of someone with an expense account. What I can tell you is that this was a great change of pace from the usual happy hour bar scene, and while I don’t have any grand aspirations that involve DJ names or mixing boards, I’d love to go back at some point, if only for the sheer novelty of it.

If you do, however, have a serious interest in becoming a DJ, the Scratch Academy offers courses from beginner to advanced levels, and also offers the use of its extensive equipment for training, practicing, and, I’m told, even production. So if you want to get your feet wet in the DJ world, this might not be a bad place to start. Until next time, keep those records turning!

Last Friday I decided to lighten things up a bit and check out some more comedy. As luck would have it, I happened upon a very interesting, very comprehensive list of free events in the city, and comedy was on the menu in Central Park, compliments of Comedy Central.

So we headed up to the park after work, hoping to catch the show, but to my surprise, there was actually a massive line that had formed to get in! I had been under the mistaken impression that the performance would be on one of the big lawns and that space would be more or less unlimited, but the show was actually being held in a much smaller (though still quite expansive) amphitheater in the middle of the Park. The line moved quickly however, and we managed to get in right around the start of the show.

Comedy Central (Park)
To my great delight, I found that the show was actually being introduced by Dave Attell! In a word: Awesome!!! Dave Attell was fantastic with a quick round of opening jokes including some very dirty jokes, which he apologized for when he remembered that there might be families in the audience…but not really. Thank god for unabashed adult humor!

Of the acts that followed, all were pretty solid, save one poor woman who just couldn’t seem to get the crowd excited. The jokes weren’t bad, but somehow they weren’t getting through to the crowds funny bone, so she kind of struggled for a while. The other comics, and Dave Attell of course, had a good bead on what tickles a New Yorker’s fancy though, and the show went very well indeed.

The Space
The space was a little cramped, owing to it being a free, public comedy show featuring some very funny and talented comics, but I didn’t mind so much for the most part. The only time when this became a problem was when a group of about eight or nine highly inconsiderate people came and put down a blanket next to us (we were all laying out on some kind of turf) and proceeded to talk amongst themselves loudly through a good portion of the show. How unnerving.

The Bottom Line
It’s hard to go wrong with free in this city, and this was no exception. I was exceptional in that we got to see over two hours of what really was top notch comedy with little more sacrificed than about five minutes in line. I’d definitely recommend any free performance in the park with gusto. There’s really no reason not to go, so check it out.

Last Tuesday, on somewhat of a whim, a friend and I decided to check out UCBT, making this my second trip to the famed New York Improv venue. As you may recall, I saw two partially scripted performances during my last visit, which played to a relatively empty theatre (probably owing to the weather). Well this time was a little different.

Harold
This time around, we came to see long form improv in a format known as The Harold. These are 30 minute continuous improv performances in which the eight or nine members of an improv troop alternate jumping into or redefining a scene. Once a handful of scenes or themes have been created, they shift somewhat randomly from scene to scene, elaborating on each one until the end of the show. In at least some cases, the scenes overlap or simply collide into eachother with comical results.

Another major point that set this night apart from my first visit was the crowd. When we arrived a little before 8pm, the theatre was completely packed, even to the point where there was actually standing room only for parts of the show. The crowd was pretty much what you might expect it to be, which is young and energetic, and of course, ready to laugh.

The Improv
We saw three groups perform, though I only recall for certain that two of them were Bastian and Tantrum. The improv they put on was fairly entertaining, but as I’ve discussed previously, improv isn’t an exact science and it can sometimes end up in a place that isn’t all that funny. For example, imaginary giant foam hotdog hats were very funny. Explaining that the greatest prank ever pulled was to build a second statue humping the main one in the schoolyard was very funny. Rape counseling wasn’t that funny.

This is the second time that I’ve encountered seriously taboo topics in a UCBT improv show, and both times I was less than amused. While I’m inclined to say that taboo subjects don’t have to be unfunny simply because they’re taboo, I do think that if you’re gonna go after them, you have to have a really great (and probably well thought out) angle. Unfortunately this is a fundamental weakness of improv, because it’s supposed to be spur of the moment, and at least in this case, the brilliant angle never really materialized. Sorry improv-ers, it’s just not working! Stick to the funny hats!

The Bottom Line
Despite some scenes that were of questionable comedic value, it’s still a hell of a show for just 5 bucks, and it goes on for over 2 hours, though you are by no means obligated to stay that long or even arrive on time for that matter. Just stake out your seats early and enjoy the energy and innovation of the improv Troops. The Harold shows happen every Tuesday night from now till forever as far as I can tell, so if you like long form improv you’re pretty much out of excuses to visit UCBT at least once.

Yes, my parents were in town last weekend, and we actually managed to see and do quite a bit for just the couple of days they were here. Here’s a copy of the itinerary I put together for them:

Friday
The Focacceria (Italian)
The Comedy Cellar

Saturday
The Met
Carne-Vale (Brazilian)

Sunday
Brunch
Happy hour on the river

A pretty solid schedule with some wiggle room for doing other fun things like getting stuck in a cab in traffic. That’s New York for you though. Anyway, I’ll hit each point quickly so as not to completely overwhelm you

The Focacceria
Probably my favorite Italian restaraunt in the city, I highly recommend this place, and virtually anything on the menu. The Penne Vodka and Cannolis are particularly good. I love this place because the food is good, the place is never too crowded, and the service is always friendly and accomodating.

The Comedy Cellar
I saw Collin Quinn here! That makes him my first celeb sighting in the city actually, even if it was on stage. Unfortunately I have nothing flattering to say about him. He jokingly mentioned that his career must be downhill cause no one was laughing. Well, I think everyone realized that it wasn’t as much of a joke as he’d like us to believe, cause really, no one was laughing. Happily, the other comics were fantastic and my parents had a great time. It may also be worth noting that we followed this up with a random jazz place and got a little schnookered before turning in for the night. I’ll figure out the name of the place later.

The Met
After a night of strong drink, the Met was perhaps not as fun as it really should have been. This place is massively, enormously, stupendously humungous. Man is it big. Even if you were sober as a judge you wouldn’t be able to see this whole museum in a day and would be completely absurd to try, so we picked a few things that wouldn’t tax our addled brains too much: Roman sculpture, Dali, Modernism, and a healthy dose of fresh air on the roof, overlooking central park. A good time that could have been much, much better, but I suppose you just can’t have it all.

Carne-Vale
Carne-Vale is a Brazilian Churrascaria, which are typically very expensive restaraunts that serve obscene quantities of top quality meats. I’ve managed to find one that’s not quite so expensive, but still keeps the obscene quantities of good food. Maybe not the place you want to go on a first date, but it was perfect for a family of carnivores like mine. The one downside to this place is that the service can be a little hit-or-miss, but if you’re not too picky, it doesn’t exactly matter. Once you sit down, service is pretty much limited to red light, green light. Flip the card to green, and they bring more meat. Red, they don’t. Simple, effective, delicious, just the way meat should be.

Cafe des Artistes
Mother’s day brunch isn’t the time to be stingy, but we really pulled out all the stops on this one. My mother lived here in the city, once upon a time, on the upper west side, and used to dine at this restaraunt when it was presumably a little less high-brow than it is today. Thus, we decided to treat her to a prix fix brunch with champagne and a side of nostalgia. It was extravagant, delectable, but a little short in the fun department because we managed to get served by the one snooty jerk SOB on the staff. I should say that this seemed like an abberation, because his fellow waiters and hosts pretty much got us what we asked for when he consistently ignored us. Normally I wouldn’t outright complain about service, but for a restaraunt like this, with the prices being what they were, service really ought to be impeccable.

Sunset on the River
Last stop, the ferry. I decided to end the escapade with a nice riverboat tour of the city, so we hopped over to the South Street Seaport (which is an attraction in itself) and climbed aboard a New York Water Taxi. It didn’t have much in the way of frills, but we got to sit on the upper deck and look at the skyline from both the Hudson and the East River as the sun went down. They also served beer and wine for those inclined, but it wasn’t quite what i’d consider an uproarious expedition, so we kept it low key and enjoyed the view.

And that concludes 2007 parents’ weekend in NYC!

This past Friday I was feeling pretty down, not really in the mood to do anything at all, which is incidentally why I’ve been slow to update this blog lately. But of course I had to fulfill my requirement of at least one New York cultural event a week, and I was already downtown so I wanted to try and do something. I didn’t have much of a plan at that point, but I do have a short, unofficial list of things and places that I ultimately feel I need to visit in this city. Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction was one of these places. 

As it turns out, I picked a pretty good time to drop by, because when I got there I was pointed upstairs to a completely free show, “No Name and a Bag of Chips.” Of course, this in itself wasn’t enough to rouse me from my exceptionally sour mood, but I had nothing better to do so I figured I’d give it a shot.

I have to say that after realizing the comics in the room outnumbered the guests, I was a little put off, but it actually didn’t matter. These hearty souls put on one hell of a show, including magic, standup, and stories that not only put me more at ease but actually had me laughing and feeling pretty good by the end. Such is the power of comedy. 

I also learned for the first time what a powerful word “blog” can be. After the show I mentioned this project to one of the comics (who were amicably hanging out around the bar for a little while after the show) and was immediately taken to be introduced to pretty much all the rest of them. Now as most people who know me are probably aware, I don’t exactly like being the center of attention, but all the same it was kind of cool. I’d like to make a special mention of one particular comedian, Nancy Lombardo, who was engaging both on and off the stage and encouraged me to meet the rest of the cast.

The Bottom Line

Friday evening entertainment in this city is rarely cheap and almost never free. In that respect, this show was already a diamond in the rough, but the fact that it was actually entertaining enough to bring me out my sullen state scores some major extra points in my mind. There was a one item (food or drink) minimum, standard NYC bar pricing, but I doubt anyone would press you about it, and in any case it’s a small price to pay considering. The show was great, the people were friendly and the price was right, so the bottom line is, get your butt to Mo Pitkin’s for “No Name and a Bag of Chips” next time you’re looking for something to do on a Friday night!

The question I have to ask after my experience at the Thirteenth Street Theatre is: What is a legacy worth? How far would you go, how much would you sacrifice to leave something enduring in your wake? Consider this carefully as you read, because the thirteenth Street Repertory Company’s fate now rests on how the theatre’s owner and a small, dedicated group of performers has chosen to answer that question, and how we New Yorkers choose to respond. Now on to the good stuff:

The History

The Thirteenth Street Repertory Company Theatre is more of a landmark than I realized going into my weekly adventure, having been home to original plays from the likes of Tennessee Williams, and great talent such as that of Barry Manilow in his early career. The theatre has been open since 1972 and it’s founder and owner, one Edith O’Hara, is still there to greet her guests at the door personally.

The Scene

When you first see the theatre, you might be inclined to think that some kind of mistake has been made. You might think, “surely this tiny, unassuming place couldn’t be a theatre…” But of course, you would soon find out just how wrong you were. The theatre is indeed housed in what looks like the sub street-level unit of a very old apartment building, and you might miss it entirely if you didn’t know what to look for, but once you’re inside you’ll appreciate the cozy layout and personal atmosphere of the place. Case in point: before ever reaching the actual theatre, you’ll probably be asked to wait in the lounge area just inside the door. It’s a surprisingly intimate setting where the theatre’s patrons gather before each show, and sit on an assortment of vintage sofas and chairs, chatting and getting to know one another. Certainly not what I’d expected, but otherwise quite pleasant.

Meanwhile, the theatre itself isn’t especially large either. The seating area is probably roughly the same size as the stage, and if I had to guess, I’d say you could fit maybe 30-40 people comfortably.

The Show

When I go to a show or exhibition or anything of that nature, I tend to make a fairly strong distinction between entertainment, something that will keep you occupied and maybe take your mind off of your own life and problems for a little while, and art, which is a different creature entirely. Five Story Walkup was, in my mind, unequivocally the latter.

The show did have some comedy in it, perhaps more of the ironic variety than anything else, but this wasn’t really the focus of the performances. There were seven individual performances, almost all monologues, and almost all done flawlessly. The only reservation I could possibly express toward this show is that it’s very powerful and very human, which can catch you off guard very quickly. I don’t think you can really prepare yourself for any of it, but that’s part of the power of the show. It can be unpredictable, just like real people are unpredictable, and it can be terrifying, just like real people are terrifying at times. And the fact that no matter where you are in the theatre, you’re sitting only a few feet from the actors makes everything feel all the more real.

The Bottom Line

The show cost seventeen bucks plus whatever service fees you may incur ordering the tickets through a third party. For that you get a solid 90 minute block of of showtime, plus however long you choose to linger before or after in the cozy lounge in front, plus the satisfaction of having contributed to keeping a landmark New York theatre going despite long odds.

The show is extraordinary, but don’t come into it with the wrong expectations. This show is art more than entertainment, and you probably won’t come out of it feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Take it in for what it is: a deep, poignant meditation on human condition. Go in with that understanding and you’ll find the experience infinitely rewarding and well worth you’re seventeen bucks.

Oh and by the way, two million dollars. That’s how much the owner was offered for her stake in the theatre. She decided to keep the doors open instead, for as long as she can.

I dragged my feet a bit getting my next event planned out, but here it is: Five Story Walk-up at the 13th Repertory Company. It looks like I’ll be attending the next to last performance of this show, scheduled for Friday, April 13th. Hmmm, ominous…I hadn’t realized that Friday the 13th was coming up. Anyway, the show is comprised of plays and monologues about life in New York City and is, as I understand it, also part of a fundraising effort to keep the theater open. I’ll be doing my part to keep the performing arts alive and well in the city next weekend, so keep reading and find out why it’s worth saving.