[ nyc log ]

4.22.2002:

Flight was OK, landed at JFK but couldn't see much of the ground due to dense white fog. Flight attendant asked if we had landed back in SeaTac; the weather was much like that of Seattle. Saw Keir's parents and said hello to them, they were just heading back to Seattle I assume. First experience with the subway was OK, much like I had expected it to be. Saw Keir's dorm, then went to eat pizza at Ray's Pizza. After pizza we went and rented Putney Swope from Kim's Video. Keir gave me a tour of his school, the Tisch video/photo/etc. building. Walked around the lower East side, talked to Jay Sterrenberg and company who were waiting in line for the Reel Big Fish.

Went to the Forbidden Planet comic book store and bought My New Fighting Technique is Unstoppable by David Rees, cashier told me his new book may be coming in soon. Keir bought the first book of Cerebus by David Sim.

It started pouring as we were heading back to Keir's dorm, followed by a few minutes of hail. People seemed pretty surprised.

Update:

Went to eat at Odessa's. Had a hamburger and fries. People look at you really weird when you tell them you just want a plain burger here.

After Odessa's we went to the Sidewalk Cafe and watched some people on an open mic. There were some talented ukelele players and a guy who played a pretty mean guitar. The last guy we watched was a comedian who was so nervous that more people were laughing at him than at his jokes. It was still funny though.

I wrote some random musings about life and New York on Keir's couch around 2:00am and then fell asleep on the couch. It was an insanely small couch and so my legs were still cramped in the morning from walking all day.

4.23.2002:

Woke up around 2:00pm, took a shower etc. and then walked to Pizzeria Uno with Keir. Keir's ceasar salad contained the finger from a latex glove and so we both lost our appetites and left. Ray's Pizza is much better, in my opinion.

Walked to Keir's class (Sound Colloquium or something) and sat through freshman sound productions. Most of them were horrible.

Went to Times Square, looked at all the bright lights, etc. Went to Toys 'R Us mega-store, it was insanely huge. Took pictures with a dinosaur.

Ate at McDonald's, had a #2 /w hamburgers. After we ate Keir left to go to his housing lottery deal and I walked up to Central Park. It's insane how big it is, and how it's just a huge park in the middle of a bustling city. It's pretty much the antithesis of what I saw yesterday, which included a guy pissing on the street as we walked by.

Coming back from Central Park I had to figure out what trains to ride because I couldn't get ahold of Keir at the dorm. An old homeless guy helped me out and I was sad I didn't have anything to give him afterwards.

It's 9:36pm and I'm off to see The Skeleton Killers at The Knitting Factory.

Update:

I forgot to include the story that happened yesterday. Keir and I walked across the street to see what was going on. It turned out a commercial was being filmed for a cell-phone company to be aired in England. We stuck around for a while and heard that Wyclef Jean would be in the commercial. We were kind of excited to see someone famous but didn't think we'd get to see him any time soon, as they were still setting up to film. Two minutes later, who should walk up to us but Wyclef himself. He asked us if we went to NYU and some other things. He said when he was in college he used to order a lot of Domino's Pizza, and when asked if he was popular in England he replied, "I'm the international hoodlum, baby." It was massive fear.

On to things that just happened. I just got back from The Knitting Factory. It's a weird club that has their own record label.

The first band I saw was The Matt Darriau Orchestra. He pretty much had to make up the name on the spot because he doesn't usually play with the other guys in the band. (He usually plays with a band called Paradox 3, I believe). Anyways, the band was insanely good jazz. Their first song was a tribute to Yusef Lateef called Horny (An allusion to the sax. Funny how sax also sounds like sex.). Anyways, during the first song I did detect a very Lateef-like style, so when he announced that it was a tribute to him I mentally congrulated myself for being able to tell. I was taking some pictures with my digital camera and an older guy seated at the bar was as well. He came over and showed me his camera, asked about mine, etc. He asked if I knew the band, whether I liked jazz. I said something about the first song and Yusef Lateef and he went crazy because he said I looked so young, he didn't think any young people knew about old jazz musicians. He asked how old I was and I said 19, this caused further hysterics. He said I could be his son's son (He was 45). After the bands set (3 songs I think) we went up and talked to them. Matt Darriau gave me his email address so I could send him the pictures I took.

Ken (45 year old guy) asked me why I was at The Knitting Factory. I explained about getting something signed by a member of The Skeleton Killers. He asked what it was and I told him about the comic book I was carrying with me. He explained that his friend had just shown him the site last night and that he thought it was hillarious. He then explained that they were playing next door (The Knitting Factory has a hojillion stages). If he hadn't of told me that I would have missed them. Ken told me that I was too cool for Seattle and that I should move to New York. I told him that Keir was already working on it. Anyways, on to band #2.

I had no clue what TSK was going to sound like, I was only there to get my two posters + book signed by their guitarist. They turned out to be pretty good, I heard the last three songs. One was a love ballad called "Love ain't right, it's wrong." Really great guitar. After they finished I asked them which one was David Rees and introduced myself as the guy who'd emailed about getting a poster signed. I asked when the second book was coming out (filing) and he explained that he'd already printed 400 copies but they'd sold out. 400 more on the way, then he's redoing the book. He explained that his current project is the war comics, which are going to be printed in a limited edition book which will be "very nicely bound." Very nice guy, super nice for signing all three of my things. Also for not thinking I'm some kind of comic stalker nutcase.

Took the subway back to Astor place (it's a lot easier than people make it out to be) and got McDonald's from THE SLOWEST MCDONALDS ON THE PLANET. Customers were getting irate and yelling because they were so slow. A fight almost broke out between someone in line and someone trying to cut from the other line. Fries were insanely too salty, and my McFlurry was so blended that the M&Ms had disintigrated. And here I am. Night. =)

4.24.2002:

Woke up around noon to take pictures of Keir's friend Phoebe. She needed a head shot for an audition. Of course, this being a Beau + Keir photo shoot, general wackiness ensued and I managed to get a picture of Phoebe "burrowing".

Went and ate at Johnny Rocket's with Keir, then he went to class and I took the F train to 57th Street and walked to Central Park.

Central Park was awesome, I skated there until around 7:00pm. I made friends with a 6'6" drug dealer named Ty, he was fun to talk to. He called me Captain. I think he said "buds, buds" to everyone that walked by.

I was also introduced to all of the skaters there through a guy named Tony, he showed me some stuff and I showed him a few moves. Another guy there who was nice was Mike, he was a big dance skater and was fun to watch.

Went back through Times Square and took the subway to Astor place. Keir wasn't home so I went to Barnes & Noble and bought a copy of Wired and a copy of Liberty. Went to sit in Starbucks to read them because I was wearing shorts and freezing my ass off.

Came back to Keir's dorm and hung out with Phoebe, introduced her to our twisted language and watched her and Keir flirt^2.

Now it's 2:00am and I'm off to do laundry.

Tomorrow I will most likely go to class with Keir in the morning and then hang out with Brander sometime after that.

Update:

Doing laundry 3000 miles from home with no detergent sucks.

Talked to Keith, Jesse, Jim, and Kelly back home on my cell phone. Probably at a ridiculous price, too.

Wrote some more stuff while sitting next to the dryer, waiting for my clothes to dry.

4.25.2002:

Was too tired to go to class with Keir, slept in until 1:00pm, took a shower.

Upon getting out of the shower I heard about the Chelsea explosion. Scary stuff.

Making plans to hang out with Brander and possibly go see the Blue Man Group tonight.

So some time I will actually hang out with Brander, and it looks like I'm going to go see a different show instead of Blue Man Group.

We had lunch at All About Food, where I had an incredibly charred hamburger and curly fries, plus an apple juice.

I walked to class with Keir and watched as Keir argued with the guard to get me a visitor pass. Class was pretty boring (Intro. to Theatre in New York).

After class we walked down to the Upright Citizen's Brigade theatre to buy tickets for New Team Harold but the box office wasn't open. We went and wasted time at the Venus Cafe. I had the now-standard chocolate shake and fries, Keir had french onion soup. It looked like something from the movie Aliens.

New Team Harold night at the UCB theatre was amazingly funny; it consisted of harold-style skits. (A harold is a skit based on one suggestion from the audience. There are many mini-skits, and they all inter-relate to each other at some point.)

The suggestion for the first skit was "yogurt", which turned out to be pretty funny. I had the foresight to call out "dolphin" for the suggestion for the second skit, which they used. It was incredibly funny. There was a skit about the Platinum Porpoise strip club that I think was the funniest of the whole show.

We may go see Y Tu Mama Tambien later.

... Y Tu Mama Tambien is one of the greatest movies I've seen. Keir agrees. It rocked our collective socks with a giant red electric fox.

To Odessa's and Graham's now.

Had a grilled cheese sandwich, fries, and a chocolate shake at Odessa's, but not before stopping at Graham's. After Odessa's it was back to Graham's house to hang out with him and Jon as they played guitar and composed masturbation songs. Finished the night at 4:00am by watching Graham's footage from his movie, Louise Black, and then walked home.

4.26.2002:

Woke up around 1:30pm and then woke Keir up. It was amazing that he needed more sleep than I did, as I am the sleep-master.

Ate breakfast at Cozy Soup `n' Burger. I had a hamburger and a chocolate shake. The hamburger was 50x larger than any previous hamburger I've eaten in my entire life.

I went to do some Pro Tools editing with Keir for his sound/image project. I took over for a while and we invented an audio-editing language out of grunts and fast hand movements. For example, a "katch-uh" grunt followed by a right or left hand-waving motion meant to truncate or reveal more of a sound wave. It worked surprisingly well.

Went to find Keir's friend but she didn't give very good directions. Went back to Tisch building to get Keir's water bottle, stayed for a little while in one of the screening rooms where everyone was doing last-minute work on projects.

Going to see De La Guarda at 10:30, I guess it's supposed to be insane and life-altering. No seats, 70 minutes, you move around during the performance, there's water, mist, and fog involved. Sounds highly insane.

De La Guarda is the best live performance of any kind that I've ever seen. Massive amounts of fear. Some might say an entire bucket of fear concentrate. To say any more would spoil it for those who haven't seen it.

After De La Guarda we went to the UCB theatre again, this time for Mr. ASS/Improv Jam. Mr. Ass had some funny skits but Improv Jam was massively funny. I got to go up on stage and tell emberassing stories for use as material for the skits. It was massive ownage.

4.27.2002:

Woke up around 12:30pm, did laundry and then went to Central Park. Did a lap around the jogger's trail and then made my way to the skater's circle. My right front truck snapped immediately upon entering the circle, serving as some kind of evil omen. The people in the park were great and tried to help me get my skate fixed but it was a losing battle. I went to Peck and Goody's to try and buy a new truck but of course they don't have the one I need. Looks like skating in NYC is done for this trip.

After the park I called Brander and took the F train down to his apartment. It's really nice and in a cool area. We went to Paul's for dinner, I had a hamburger, fries, and the obligatory chocolate shake.

Went out with Keir to find something to do, but not before Keir organized everything in his room into folders. We went to La Lanterna di Vittorio (The Fireside Cafe) so Keir could eat a ridiculously expensive sandwich and chocolate shake. The waiter ignored my pleas for a glass of water for the first 20 minutes.

Back to Keir's dorm, and now suddenly we're going to go see another show at the UCB theatre. If I could get ahold of Brander I would invite him but my cellphone died and hence my numbers are gone. Anyways, off to UCB for the third night in a row.

Midnight in the Valley of the Switchblade Pussycats was awesome, insanely funny stuff. Plus an acid trip scene that made the whole show 20x funnier. Upon exiting the theatre it was raining and I was still wearing my trademark T-shirt. I am impervious to the cold, however. We went to Johnny Rocket's, which was closed, and then to Cozy Soup `n' Burger, which is open 24 hours a day. I had a grilled cheese, fries, and the obligatory chocolate shake. My stomach is now 5 seconds away from explosion.

We signed four random guys into the building who were in search of a party on the eleventh floor. We went back to Keir's room and then left again to search for the party. It turned out to be a non-party party and everyone had left. Suckfest.

Time for reading and then sleep.

4.28.2002:

Woke up around 1:30pm, went to Mac Dougal's cafe with Keir and had a grilled cheese /w bacon, fries, and a chocolate shake. I feel really lethargic today, I think it's because of the dreary weather and rain.

Finally bought postcards for everyone at Atlantic News, also bought a copy of Adbusters, a great magazine about advertising, globalization, and society in general.

We're going to see ASSSSCAT 3000 tonight at the UCB theatre. (4th night in a row we've been there.)

I finished seven postcards and am going to mail them on the way to a show we're going to later.

We just finished watching Donnie Darko, which was pretty insane. Time travel, mysterious evil bunny rabbits, etc.

Update:

A pigeon dive-bombed Keir's head with a pigeon-missile on the way to Tower Records. We stopped in somewhere to get napkins. Keir showed approximately 57 faces whose primary purpose was to show how grossed-out he was. He also rubbed hand sanitizer into his head later in a vain attempt to clean off aforementioned pigeon-missile.

UCB was sold out so we went to go to a show that Graham told Keir about.

There was a huge thunder/lightning storm which I almost ventured into wearing the trademark T-shirt, but Keir made me go get a jacket. Massive torrential downpour ensued and we ate at East Village Pizza & Kebabs. I had an order of fries and an orange soda.

We saw Homesick for Space (I think) and The Feud at Brownies.

Homesick for Space reminded me of Radiohead and Sunny Day Real Estate; The Feud was much better. They switched positions a bunch of times (ie, guitarist would go to keyboards or drums), it was pretty insane. They all knew how to play like every instrument there. The last two songs had two drummers on different sets. Insanity.

We stopped by Phoebe's on the way back to Keir's dorm so Keir could flirt with her some more; now it's almost time for bed. (For Keir, at least, I'm going to stay up and read)

Update:

So we actually have a plan for tomorrow, which includes rock-climbing and going to the UCB theatre again. I think maybe they're going to start charging us rent.

4.29.2002:

Woke up around 2:00pm. Went and ate at Johnny Rocket's, had a grilled cheese, fries, and the obligatory chocolate shake.

We went to the Cole Sports and Recreation Center (NYU's gym thing, basically) and did some climbing on the treadwalls. I finished reading my issue of Adbusters, there are several insanely mind-blowing articles about antidepressants, SSRIs, normalcy, and other assorted goodness.

We walked around Chinatown and then went back to Keir's dorm. We reserved tickets for American Standard/The Big Vagina Monologues at the UCB theatre for 8:00pm and then left for the theatre.

The BGM was by far the funnier of the two shows, and it starred Jackie Clarke, who Keir and I are now obsessed with.

We rented Requiem for a Dream from Kim's Video and I got some McDonalds at the SLOWEST MCDONALDS EVER.

Requiem for a Dream.. Hmm. Don't watch it if you aren't prepared to think about drugs, society, involuntary care, and become insanely depressed. It's worth noting here that requiem means a mass or service for the deceased. So basically.. The movie is about the failing of dreams. It is painful to watch.

Also. Reading Adbusters plus watching Requiem for a Dream has put me into a weird sort of melancholy mood. Hopefully it will be bright and sunny in Washington tomorrow so I don't come home all depressed. Must go read now and think happy thoughts.