I had a great day today. We had the day off and were lucky enough to spend it in New York City. I always really like coming to city. I like finding new places and seeing new things. It is really crowded, and dirty, and expensive, but I think the good outweighs the bad for the most part. I always get a surreal feeling when I am here, like life is not the same as everywhere else, but it isn’t necessarily bad. Today was also the first day that I have ever thought, “Hey, I could live here and it would be fun”. I think it was when I passed the third really nice looking park with a playground and saw all the kids playing and moms with their strollers, and it just seemed like families could exist here.
Our guitar tech James and I decided that it would be fun to ride bikes into the city. I was honestly a little nervous, mostly because people drive like maniacs in the city, but it ended up no being too bad. We also found a ton of bike lanes. I have been hearing about all the bike lanes that were being built, and there are actually a lot. Although some of the lanes on Broadway were not even useable because there are so many people, it would be like riding your bike through a crowded store, except they are all walking fast and looking down. I was really looking forward to using these bike lanes, but we ended up heading back to other roads because it was just so slow. We did get to stop though Times Square, which is not one of my favorite parts of the city, but I kind of wanted to see it since they closed it to traffic. It seemed still in a bit of transition, like just throwing a bunch of red tables out in the street doesn’t feel right, but I think taking away cars adds to the weird vibe of that place. We rode all the way in from Secaucus, NJ, where the bus was parked and it was only a few miles to the ferry across the Hudson River.
One thing I was really excited about was riding through Central Park. I have never really been able to spend much time in the park, and today we rode around the entire thing, which is something I have always wanted to do. It was s great ride and it really is a beautiful park. We got a really late start, and I had wanted to stop a few stores that friends had recommended and we never had time, but I am really happy we chose to head to the park first and I can’t wait to ride there again. I had hoped to see more crazy fixed gear bikes, but I hear you have to go to Williamsburg for that. I was also hoping to see John Prolly doing tricks or have bikesnobnyc make fun of my bike while it was locked somewhere…maybe next time.
Then we met some good friends for some good food and sushi. There are so many places to eat in New York City, that sometimes it is overwhelming to try to pick somewhere good. So we were glad to have some locals to show us around a little bit. After that we headed down to SoHo to see Sufjan Stevens at the Bowery Ballroom. I am so excited that we got to see him! It was such a random coincidence that we were even here when he was playing! The show was great, he played a lot of new songs, and many of them had a darker, almost haunted house feeling to them. Also a few of the new songs were electronic, with beats and keyboards, but as you would imagine, it still sounded very organic and interesting. He always uses such cool instruments, and I love the orchestration of pulling off the songs live. I was also glad to see my friend and one my favorite singers Denison Witmer. We got to hang out with him a few days ago in his hometown of Philadelphia, and it was cool to see him again so soon. I am such a fan, I have to try to hold myself back from asking questions all the time, but Denison is one of my favorite singer/songwriters of all time, I really want to put out some of his music on Mono Vs Stereo someday.
It was such a good day and I am beat tired, even though we took a cab home. Our cab driver was amazing though, he had an ipod and let us pick songs. I started out with an Almost song and then ended it out with a little Dr. Dre and Jay Z. It was a good night.
