Tuesday Night

Sura and I went to Bowery Electric on Bowery and Bond. It was nice inside, a little empty, but pretty chill, and mostly hip. The dj's played pretty good jams, not the typical bar music like Journey, AC/DC etc. I called up James, who lives around the corner in, get this, the old Ramoness hangout apt. His roommate happens to be the graphic artist of the Ramones, you know, the guy who invented the Ramoness logo, etc. It's basicly like living in a museum. There are all these photos of members of the Ramones in the apt, by the things they are by. For example, there is a photo of Joey Ramone standing next to a pipe, and this photo is hung by the pipe. Once there was this scrap book just lying out and inside the plastic pages were the original pieces of paper that lyrics to many of the iconic songs we know and love from the Ramones were written on. Witnessing history. The dude himself I guess is in his 60's but I've never met him.
So James came and brought Casey and we had a championship time.
Then just Sura and I went to the Inn for the Trashion party. Dimitry!!! who always seems to be djing wherever I go was... djing. When we walked into the Inn, it seemed utterly dead, there was one guy in the place, then we remembered to walk upstairs where the jamz were in full swing. I met Andre, who had ODB on his shirt.

It was luv at first sight.

Oh yeah. Walking back to the subway around 3:00 AM we spotted this gentleman asleep in the very posh clothing store on W 13th st. Very bizzare.

Brooklyn Springs!

On a whim Sura and I went to the bar right down the block from us. I still have no idea what the name of it is, but its on Underhill and Lincoln Pl. and the front is bright orange. They have the most amazing backyard space, which is kinda "crappy wonderful." Cheap (for NY) prices and locals all over. Total neighborhood bar. Highly Recommended!


On the way back there were some kids playing jump rope on our block, but in traditional Brooklyn style, they were playing with an electrical cord. It brought me back to the old days of double dutchin' with telephone cable.

Brooklyn Flea

I headed to the Brooklyn Flea Market on Vanderbuilt and Lafayette. My feelings...mixed. There was a great sense of community, and some quirky people there, which is really what you hope for from a flea market. But you also hope for junk tables to riffle through with the perfect lamp, or the table with just a few nicks in it, but for 27 dollars, it's totally a steal. There wasn't much of that. Most of the vendors were also store owners, and their prices and attitudes mirrored that. There were many thrift store clothing items at first purchase prices. Still, my roommate was able to find a nice mirror for only 25 dollars that does work really well with her room, and only a few nicks. And there was a table, that had folding leaves and an expanding middle that Nick fell in love with, but since he doesn't live in Brooklyn yet, it didn't make sense for him to purchase it. The legs were carved masterpieces.
On the way home we stopped by a stoop sale, and managed to score a reallysuperlong coat peg rack for our hallway and a cute red chair, small enough for our lovely fire escape/turned porch and bright enough for our color choices in our apt. All for 20 bucks. What a steal.

Galleries

I killed some time last evening. The weather was absolutely beautiful, I went to some Chelsea galleries, and the work was not all atrocious, the art world is getting better!

Yinka Shonibare

Tamara Kostianovsky @ Black and White Gallery

Karin Weiner @ Ziehrsmith

Zipora Fried @ Moti Hasson GalleryAnd some crazy guy at Union Square. A NYC staple.

APT

Tuesday night, every New Yorker's true party night, came a-knockin'. But not to worry, Sura and I were already armed with a plan. We went to the Meatpacking District, which is normally lame lame lame with long lines, dude-bro "grown up" frat boys, and pricey covers. However, we were "on da list" and didn't have to deal with most of that and APT didn't have too many frat boys.
The styling, true to its name, was that of an "apartment." It was swankier than any bachelor pad I've seen. It had a bed, dining room table, lounge area, etc. A nice detail included a map of the Eastern Hemisphere, no America's to be seen. Another nice aspect was a deck! Who has a deck in NYC anymore? And it was HUGE! So, for you smokers out there, and for you dancers who just need to cool off, you can go right outside without being in the street. Amazing.
The dj set was really scene appropriate, and it just felt wonderful to be dancing in the downstairs "double" bar space. We stayed until late.

Hunter MFA Open Studio

On Friday it was a hard choice for me:
Brooklyn Critical Mass, or Hunter MFA open studios. I ended up going to the open studios. First of all, one should be warned that you head into no man's land when you trek out to the studios, which are located west of the Port Authority. You have traffic, shady overpasses, and New Jersey looming in the distance to contend with, but it is totally worth it.
The studios are all hodge podged together, each one being unique. One was in a room with no windows, there were three or four all in the same space, with a second level connecting them all, much like a post- industrial loft dwelling, ones that looked like stark white gallery spaces, etc etc etc. Navigating the space itself was part of the experience.
The other expereice was, of course, the art.




Amazing couch-platform "ride"(?) that we got to participate in. That couch swiveled 360 around its center and the whole platform also spun.



Muthafukin' fort!

Inside the fort!

First Saturday Polaroids

That last one is all fam fam, the cat and the brother.