Where did the last 10 days go? It’s been a whirl, so some brief highlights:
October 28: Split between celebrating a good friend’s birthday at Le Pere Pinard on the Lower East Side and then enjoying some pre-Halloween fun at Hank’s Saloon with Jon Simmons, Thunderegg’s biggest British fan, who was stopping for the weekend on his way to Los Angeles. Can’t argue with French food, rockabilly, and men in drag.
October 29 & 30: I have no recollection of these days.
October 31: Halloween; as mentioned below, we dressed as Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. No photos yet, but I’m hoping our kind hostesses will email me some. The costumes were moderately successful, I’d say. Party was fun. We took a whole pumpkin pie home.
November 1: House cleaning.
November 2: Casper & the Cookies, friends of mine from Georgia, arrived to play the CMJ Music Festival. My apartment sort of took on the look of a youth hostel, but it was fun to see everyone. They stayed two nights.
November 3: We visited one of our favorite restaurants, Robin des Bois, a cozy spot in Carroll Gardens that has a lot of chandeliers and gravy-laden food. I fell asleep very early.
November 4: I had my first run with my new running group and made a brisk lap of the park. Then we met up with some friends for dinner at a Japanese place in the East Village, where I had a yummy bowl of soba noodles with vegetable tempura. Then we headed back into Brooklyn to catch the Crevulators at Freddie’s Back Room (where Thunderegg played more than a year ago). Will met up with a friend from high school there who was in town to catch a reading by one of his favorite poets. Late night, needless to say.
Today: I fought the marathon crowds on the 6 train to meet a friend for lunch on the Upper East Side, and then we went to the Met to see the exhibition of artists represented by legendary turn-of-the-century art dealer Ambroise Vollard. The scope of this show was staggering, and the wall text offered an amazing amount of anecdotal and historical information about the paintings’ provenances. I also learned that Pere Ubu was a character in short, satirical plays that Vollard wrote to blow off steam. I may go back after the holidays to reexamine parts of the show.
During this period, I also read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but that really merits a separate post, perhaps tomorrow.
Always Double Back 
November 7, 2006 at 5:24 pm
Hi Red. A namecheck! Woohoo! Thanks (I think).
It was good to meet you that Saturday, and I had fun. It was a cool night – good company, good music, all good. LA the following week was also excellent, and if I ever recover from the jet lag and get some time inbetween I’ll blog some.
I’d forgotten about the Stevie Nicks thing. I hope you gave them a good chorus of Gold Dust Woman!!
J
November 8, 2006 at 9:57 am
Whew, glad you got home okay. Will was concerned that he never heard from you after we put you on the train. He thought he may have caused an international incident!
November 8, 2006 at 3:38 pm
yeah – i never could get my mobile to work in the USA. Somethng about it not being triband or somat, and i ran out of time to go on the internet and emAIL.
I was surpriswed and delighted by your concern to get me on the right train, and probably looked a little shocked when you left me there (or drunk) as I’d assumed no-one would accompany someone on to the platform unless they were getting the train too!! Too kind! You both are, really!
I was serious about trying to reciprocate, if you want to come out here! Tho’ I’m not half the host that you two are!
J–>