Almost everything we’re doing in these last weekes & days are last things. The last time we eat at this restaurant, the last time we get a coffee here, the last time we cycle by this corner, etc. etc. It feels strange.

Last weekend we had our last guests. Mark & Chiara arrived on Thursday for a long weekend. We started off by walking around our neighborhood and having dinner at Mole, our favorite Mexican restaurant. We’ve been here often enough to be recognized and welcomed by the owner and some of the waiters (Saskia has a secret crush on one of them).

By the end of dinner, both our guests were almost falling asleep, so we took them to their apartment. The next day, I had to work and so did Saskia, but we met up with them after work. Actually, I met up with Dawn, another ex-colleague from Amsterdam at the end of the day, who also happened to be in New York. Then Mark and Chiara joined us, after which I went back to the office with Mark to introduce him to Angela. Who knows, User Intelligence might be able to help her in the future. We went out for dinner (pizza!) and called it a day!

On Saturday, we slept quite long, and then went to get some breakfast and run some errands. We found a new, large bag, and Mark & Chiara had offered to bring some of our stuff back! That will save us at least one excess bag on our trip back…

For dinner, we decided to check out the meatpacking district. Strolling around was not an option, as it was pouring with rain. So we just ran out of the taxi and into Spice Market. A big restaurant with an Asian theme. It looked very nice, but we might have to wait for an hour. We found a place at the bar to drink cocktails, order starters and wait for our table. After about 45 minutes a table was available, and we had a wonderful dinner. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food!

After that, it was dry outside, and Mark & Chiara were up for some drinks, so we took a taxi to the East Village. We first tried Angel Share, another speakeasy. No mention is made of the bar outside, but instead you need to go into a japanese restaurant. There is an inconspicuous door within th erestaurant that leads to the bar. However, the bar turned out quite full, and not lively enough for our guests, so we decided to find another place. The next choice was a lively bar, where we had some drinks. I think we could have been parents to most of the other people there, but the music was definitely more from our time than from theirs! After another bar it was time to go home.

On Sunday I sold my bike! Nicole, a colleague, decided to buy it and came to the city to pick it up. After that, we rolled our extra suitcase to Mark & Chiara’s apartment, and then had a last drink with them at the German beergarden. After we said our goodbyes, we had to run to be in time for “Arias with a twist”, a show at the HERE theatre, that Saskia wanted to see. It really was an amazing show, I’m sure Saskia will write about it at some point…

After that show, we had a quick dinner at a Cuban place in SoHo, after which we walked to Bleecker Street. Just off of Bleecker, in MacDougal Street, we found “The Rabbit Club”. This is where Julia Haltigan would be playing an acoustic set. The place did not look like a live music venue, and it wasn’t. According to the owner/barman, this would be the first live music in his bar. Julia arrived with her Dad, sat at the bar and started playing.

Her voice is amazing, and with dad playing mandoline and blues harp, the performance was quite an experience. There were about 10 people at the bar, watching the show. After the show, we bought her CD and went home.

That was our last weekend! This Friday, we’ll be leaving New York. <sigh>

Saturday morning (6am) we, or I must say Jacco, I slept through it) woke up with the familiar sound of hissing and the smell of heated dust… The central heating is on which means it’s really fall! Fortunately this time we can turn the heater off which means a cool bedroom. This means a cool everything since our apartment is so small but nothing a extra sweater won’t fix.

What the weekend is concerned, we took it really slow and relaxed. Had breakfast at the diner with our Greek friends (we promised them to come and say goodbye before we leave) and then we took a stroll through Central Park which is changing colours now as well. Not as bright as upstate New York or what we’ve seen in Anneke en Wil’s photo’s of Boston, but still, pretty. The weather was beautiful, cold and crisp, like it is today. At one point we walked towards a  musician who was setting up his gear for an outdoor gig. Just as we walked past him to have a seat on the other side we saw he was filming his crowd that gathered on a little hill. If you want to see what that looks like:

In the evening we met Fanneke (who had a 2 day stop over in NY) for a drink in Oliva, a Spanish place where they have live salsa music after midnight. Sunday we slept in, had breakfast at our other place (Orchard) and visited the ‘apple festival’. Again,…it’s really fall! Then we went to Starbucks for coffee and internet. Jacco designed a Crumpler bag for me which is being made this week, very happy with that! In the evening we got take out from the dumpling house and watched an episode of Doctor Who. I think it was the most quiet and relaxed weekend so far.

I’ve been slow in updating, but here is a quick overview of what we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks.

Sat, Sep 21

The Woes & Julia Haltigan @ Spike Hill (Brooklyn)

We had seen both of these before, in different venues. This was a new venue for us (fun!) and both of their shows were fun!

Wed, Sep 24

Loudon Wainwright III @ the Highline Ballroom

I’d been looking forward to see Loudon in real life. The last time I came close, I suddenly had to travel for work, and Saskia ended up goign with someone else to a show in Paradiso. And now he was here in New York. With a lot of family close by, so who knows…

It was a weird setting (large hall, full with tables and chairs, and we were put at a table with 4 other people, but very close to the stage). But a great show. With lots of the aforementioned family doing cameo appearances. Daughter Martha sang a song, daughter Lucy did one, and son Rufus joined him for one as well. Lots of fun and joking.

(movie from the show we attended)

Fri, Sep 26

Honky Tonk Angels @ Banjo Jim’s
With Marco and Margreet, we were in the mood for some live music, and decided on some Country Music. SO we went to Banjo Jim’s for the first time. I had read about it before, but we didn’t get around to going there until now. It’s a tiny place, no stage, so the musicians just stand in a corner and play.

The Honky Tonk Angels are not a band, but more a collective of female country musicians from Brooklyn. And so we saw three seperate acts that night, where I think the first one,  Serena Jean, was the best we saw that night. The atmosphere was great, and although it was a little hard to get to the bar and get a drink, we had a very cool night, and will definitely come back to Banjo Jim’s before we leave!

Sun, Sep 28

Country Corner @ The Living Room

One of the organizers of the Honky Tonk Angels night told us about this afternoon get-together. It starts around 4pm, and is basically a sort of open-mic event with all musicians, that seem to know eachother. We ended up there because the rain did not allow us to play mini golf. So after some shopping, we all met up at The Living Room, ordered margeritas and saw a quite a few different performers.

So many different performers, in fact, that I truly believe we were the only people there that were not in a band. There were two or three partners of band members, and then there was us. Therefore it felt a little like an incrowd. But it was fun, and the margeritas were very nice.

Wed, Oct 01

Ben Folds @ Terminal 5

I have seen Ben Folds once before, in Cologne. And when I saw that he would be playing in New York, I first emailed Viktor to tell him he’d be playing in Den Haag as well, and then ordered tickets to go and see him in Terminal 5, a place we hadn’t seen before.

We were there quite early, so after the age-check (always bring ID!) and the ticket-check, we had some time to check out the venue before the opening act, Missy Higgins. It is actually quite a big venue, with the main floor an dtwo levels of balconies, both with bars. Sort of the same setup as Paradiso in Amsterdam, but a lot larger. One of the balcony levels has a lot of couches, where we sat and enjoyed a drink before the concert started.

Not having heard of Missy Higgins, we were pleasantly surprised. Fun music!

After that, the venue actually got a lot busier, and we found a place to see the concert on the ground floor. Ben Folds started off with a lot of the very new songs from the album that was released a day before. The strange thing was that, for a number of the new songs, two versions were played. He explained how those extra versions had come into existence. Basically, they were afraid that the album might be leaked prematurely, and that people would be downloading the songs off the internet.

To try and prevent this from happening, the band wrote alternate versions of all the songs on the new album, during a flight to Spain. In 8 hours, they wrote new versions of all the songs on the album, music and lyrics. And some of them were good enough to warrant a performance during this gig. Very interesting to hear completely different versions of those songs, and to be honest, I would not have been able to tell which of the two would be the official album version.

Although the new songs sounds great, somehow it’s always a bit nicer (to me, at least) to hear more familiar songs. And we were treated to some of those later on in the concert. The highlights for me were renditions of ‘Missing the war’ and ‘Army’, both of which involve heavy interaction with the audience. The first one was directed by Ben Folds, dividing the audience in three groups that each sing a part of a chord. It never ceases to amaze my how cool that sounds, and how “in tune” it sounds.

In the original version of the song “Army”, there is an interlude played by a clarinet and a oboe. Two tunes that sort of cross over eachother. During the concert in Cologne, he directed this bit as well, to great effect. However, in this concert he didn’t do anything. But apparently, a lot of people had seen one of his concerts before, because at the moment that that segment should start, almost the whole audience sang either one of those two melodies, and did that very well. Chicken skin! (goosebumps, you know)

(This is a version with the instruction)

Fri, Oct 03

Stoney Clove Lane @ Banjo Jim’s
With Mum and Dad, we wanted to go and see some live country music, so we went back to Banjo Jim’s. We saw about a show and a half, and Stoney Clove Lane was good enough for me to buy their CD.

Sat, Oct 11

Tim Blane @ Rockwood Music Hall

Wow, look at that. More than a week without live music! On this Saturday we went back to Rockwood Music Hall. Saskia had done a little investigation and figured that Tim Blane would be a good bet. And it was. We could not get into the place during the concert before that, so we used the artists part of the bar to get in, and get a drink. When that show was over, quite a few people left and we could get in. And we saw a very nice show. He had brought some fans that knew most of his songs.

Tue, Oct 14

Joe Whyte+Emily Zuzik @ The Canal Room
We had seen Emily Zuzik before, but in a solo show. This would be a full band performance, so we were interested to see how that would be. The evening started with a band around singer/guitarist Joe Whyte. He started with a slow song, where his female bassplayer sang backing vocals. After that impressive song, the rest of the band joined him on stage and they played sort of poppy country music, pretty good. We enjoyed it, but hoped for more backup singing by the bassplayer. Their voices worked really well together.

After that, it was Emily Zuzik’s turn. She’s a tall woman, and knows how to carry herself on stage. But somehow, the sound didn’t really click. It all sounded sort of “thin”, I felt. The songs are great, but somehow, it needed something extra. We did end up buying a cd, as we feel the songs are definitely worth listening to some more!

Last week my mother visited us and I’m going to try to remember what we did.

She arrived on Friday night (12th) at JFK and after a few good hugs we took a taxi to the city. It is so nice to see people’s faces when they see NY’s skyline for the first time! Although it is still breathtaking I will never forget the first time I saw it.  We arrived at her home for a week and after she left her bags in the room we met Jacco downstairs and went for dinner at a French restaurant in The Lower East Side. Again we had to make our way through film crew shooting one of their many series but it immediately gave her a sense of New York.

The next day we had breakfast at Orchard (one of our two breakfast places) and afterwards we walked towards Mulberry Street where there was a street festival honoring St. Gennaro. Those Italians have a lot of Saints celebrations and it involves mainly one thing: FOOD. And lots of it. We tried our luck at a shooting game and walked some more in this neighborhood. Because we had an evening program planned we went home in the afternoon for an hour rest and met again for dinner at the noodle bar, a nice little restaurant in LES where you can have good noodles and other Asian dishes. After dinner we took the train to Brooklyn to find the location of the Rooftop Film Festival. The first time we went there was with Yvon and that time it wasn’t on a roof but in a large garden. This time it was on a roof, the roof of a can factory. The setting was beautiful but also a bit too ‘clean’. It didn’t have the cosy feeling of the garden but it was nevertheless a special place. Like the first time the evening starts with a music performance. This time the singer was not drunk which was an improvement but all her songs had a dreamy, slow sound that worked as a lullaby for the three of us. Fortunately the crowd shared our opinion and didn’t mind our snoring.Then the films started, the theme was  ‘dark comics’. So no nice sweet films about…well,…for example rabbits but scary, dark and cynical films who where often very funny. The amount of bugs however was not so funny, we were eaten alive. And for the first night in many it got really chilly, but that was a discomfort we embraced because that meant better sleep! After the film there was complimentary wine in the inner court of the building which is not a can factory anymore but houses many little ‘ateliers’. The evening ended with a taxi ride with skyline view.

Then next day we had breakfast at the diner owned by our Greek friend and mum had her first ‘eggs well done’. Then we decided we wanted to go to Governor Island, a little island close to Battery Park which is uninhabited. After the last occupants, the coast guard, left nobody is allowed to live there. New York City doesn’t have money to maintain the facilities on the island and so the whole place is up for sale. In the summer they make an exception and you can take a ferry during the weekend to visit the island. So on the day it would become 90 degrees we escaped the city and took the boat which took only 10 minutes to cross but you had a good view on the Statue of Liberty. Every weekend they have a theme party on the island and this time it was Charleston. On the big lawn was stage with a large band playing music from the twenties and a lot of people had dressed up for the occasion. It really was as if cute Doctor Who had offered as a tour with the Tardis. All around empty houses which tried to look pretty but if you looked close you could see the signs of abandonment. A weird island… But it was a beautiful afternoon and from the west side you again had amazing views of the Statue and Manhattan. Back on Manhattan shore we walked to a cafe, had a drink and took a cab home. Trying really hard to remember where we had dinner. It will come to me…later.

As we mentioned in the previous post, this past weekend we were going to see Ian Parker play one more time. RiverFest in Knowlton, NJ, was the main reason he came to the US. Knowlton is situated on the Delaware, in upstate New Jersey. Hard to reach by public transport, but luckily Wayne and Dana had decided to drive up to New Jersey to come and see Ian play as well.

Dana had never seen Ian play, but does like his music enough to have one of his songs as their wedding dance. And the title is actually engraved in her wedding band! So they could not let this opportunity pass meet the guy and to see him play live.

Wayne and Dana actually drove up to New Jersey on Friday night, and spent the night with Wei-li (Wayne’s brother) and Karen. We took a train in the morning (with a delay, so we missed our connection) to New Jersey, and an hour late, we arrived at Westfield train station. We said our quick hellos and gt in the car to drive up to Knowlton. It was a beautiful drive through New Jersey. It’s very hilly (accidented, as some people might call it) and green. It’s so much fun to see some of the countryside when you’ve been in the city for this long! And it’s great to see that all the things you see in movies are in fact real.

People still drive old American cars, huge billboards along the roads are hand-painted, the mailboxes really do have those little red flags on them, and there is a realty company called Buttzville Real Estate. Actually, that is because that whole village is called Buttzville. Not that I’ve seen that in a movie, but I could easily imagine it being in a movie.

Anyway, we arrived at the festival grounds around 2pm, parked the cars across the street and crossed the street to the festival, helped by some very nice crossing guards. The festival grounds had a very relaxed and family feel to it. Lots of different food, no big chain restaurants in sight and a little festival market. One of the things that immediately grabbed my attention, apart from the bouncy castle, was the little food stall that advertised Alligator Sausage. Intriguing!

We found a place to call our homebase for the day, and draped some picnick blankets to stake our claim. Wei-Li and Karen had brought their daughters, Abby and Jillian, and they had to first go to the bouncy castle of course. We tried to find a pair of shorts for me (I was wearing jeans because we wrongly believed the weather forecast yet again), but were unsuccessful.

In the mean time, we were sort of listening to the music in the big tent and the acoustic sets in the little tent. It was fun, but nothing really grabbed our attention. We just really were enjoying the general picnic-type day we were having, buying different types of food (Jamaican Jerk Chicken with collard greens, plantains and rice, corn-on-the-cob, the aforementioned Alligator Sausage (yummy!), funnel cake and crepes with chocolate and banana) and drinks (mainly water, but some lemonade, beer and wine as well). And we played with frisbees, yoyos and beachballs.

It was a lot of fun, and all very relaxing. At around 6.30pm it was Ian’s turn to play. We went up to the front of the stage, as most of the tent was filled with chairs(!?). Some girls were already shouting his name and trying to get his attention while they were still just soundchecking. Ian had been there last year, together with Morg Morgan. And they wanted him back. Unfortunaltely, Morg wasn’t here this time, so he would be playing with ‘hired hands’. To me, this is quite impressive. A band (drums, bass, keys) needs to learn all the songs from a cd, and then play together with Ian in front of a pretty big crowd.

Part of the crowd was really into Ian and the band, and they were greeted with huge cheers. After the chilled and relaxed gigs earlier that week in New York, it was fun seeing him rock out on his earlier songs with the full band.It was clear that this crowd was here for the blues, and that’s what Ian gave them. Long guitar solos, heavy rocking with the band and some impromptu interactions between the organ player and Ian. And very enthusiastic fans! Like a proper rockstar, people wanted to touch him, and one fan actually got on stage and kissed him on the cheek.

Dana and Wayne were both really enjoying themselves, and I think Wei-Li and Karen did as well. It might have been a little too loud for the little ones though, but they were getting tired as well. They left just before the end of the concert, but not before Wei-Li bought one of Ian’s CDs. That’s always a good sign.

We sat around after the concert for a bit, and saw an amazing full moon rise over the hills. Then we spoke to Ian for a bit, and made our way back to the car to drive home. We still needed some food, and found some in Westfield. We got to Wei-Li’s and Karen’s house around midnight, and were shown our room. We actually slept in the girls playroom (yes, that room is bigger than our apartment in NYC).

After a good night’s sleep, we got up relatively early, and had breakfast in their ginormous kitchen. We played some more with Abby and Jillian (maybe I should not have tought them to play volleyball indoors over the little fence they have…), and then went on our way to the station. Wei-Li had suggested to take the bus back, instead of the train, as there is no need for changing then. We had a nice drive through the outskirts of New Jersey and Newark and got back to the 42nd street bus terminal around 1pm.

That meant we still had some time for ourselves on this Sunday! We quickly went home, and met with Nick (our landlord), who came to pick up his mail. Saskia talked to Isabella for a bit via Skype, and then we got on our bikes for a little ride. We decided to go to Williamsburg (Brooklyn), and decided to cycle over the Williamsburg Bridge. That’s a lot of hard work! You get up really high, wich gives you a great view over the East River and the other bridges.

We had some late lunch (coffee and a belgian waffle) at a very trendy place in Williamsburg, and just walked around the place for a bit. It’s got an interestign feel to it. It’s kinda hip and trendy, but maybe a little too much so. People are really watchig eachother, sort of sizing them up or rating them or something. a little weird. We then got back on our bikes, and cycled down to the Manhattan & Brooklyn bridges. That was quite a ride, and took along some huge industrial areas. But once we got the the bridges, things quickly became very picturesque, and I started taking way too many pictures. They’ll be up soon, hopefully.

We then made our way to the little park that’s right between those two bridges, put our little blanket down and did soem reading. Or, I did some reading, and Saskia just fell asleep :-). Around 7pm we packed our things up and cycled back, across the Manhattan Bridge. Another bit of hard work, and enormously crowded with tourists. But luckily most of them kept to the pedestrian side of the path, so without much problems we arrived back in Manhattan. It’s funny to notice the completely different feel that side of the bridge has!

We parked our bikes at home, dropped our stuff and walked to the a restaurant, that turned out to be closed on Sundays. We looked around a little more and then found Tre, where we had a nice dinner.

And that was our weekend.

Monday, August 11th

Last Monday, Nicole (colleague at MediaCatalyst here in NYC) called me to ask if I’d be interested in seeing a show that night. She couldn’t make it, but had two tickets. I had already read about the show, called ‘Stars in the Margin’. It would be an evening of ‘Musical Multi Media’, hosted by Martha Plimpton and Lucy Wainwright Roche. I knew Lucy is the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III, a singer/songwriter who I really like. And I read that he’d be one of the special guests.

So I definitely wanted to go. Saskia could not make it, as she’s working for the Fringe Festival. But another colleague, Ruby, is very much in to live music, and so she joined me. I did some quick research by visiting their myspace pages, and listened to some of Lucy’s work. Definitely worth investigating some more!

After a drink next-door, we went to the Zipper Factory. That turned out to be a little, very crowded bar. After ordering another drink, the doors to the theater opened and we could find ourselves a spot in the small venue. It has a sort of standard theater setup but instead of normal seats, they’ve used the back seats of old cars. Actually quite comfortable, and we could buckle up if things would get wild.

The night started with Martha Plimpton and Lucy Wainwright Roche singing a couple of sings together with their backing band. It all sounded very nice, their voices work very well together. After that, they both start to invite friends and family onto the stage for songs. Almost all the songs they perform are covers, and it becomes clear that that is all part of the plan. It is basically a night where they get to do whatever they want on stage. At some point, one of the band members shows a short movie he’s made.

It’s all a lot of fun, and I’ve been waiting to see Loudon Wainwright III, Lucy’s dad, perform live. Before he does, it’s actually Rufus’ turn to join his sister on stage. Together they sing ‘Hallelujah’, by Leonard Cohen. It’s a very special version of the song. Then Loudon takes to the stage, and after that also Lucy’s mom, Suzzy Roche, joins them on stage.

There are two Bruce Springsteen covers (Thunder Road by Martha, with some guy whistling the solo’s) and Hungry Heart which they sing together. The whole night is great fun, and I have the feeling of having witnessed something very special and intimate!

Tuesday, August 12th

Ian Parker is in town! Our friend from the UK has a small US tour lined up, and he started playing a couple of festivals last weekend. He had also secured a couple of gigs in New York City, and this Tuesday he was scheduled to appear at Rehab. He was the first of a number of bands to get on stage, and the place was still quite quiet when he started. His set was a short one, and he played quite a few new songs. These sets, where he is only accompanied by a double bass player, serve as a sort of testbed for these new songs. In these, he sounds much more like a singer/songwriter, as opposed to the blues artist he is when playing with a full band.

It is very nice to hear these new songs, and a pity that not everyone thinks the same. A number of the people in the club are clearly there for the next band, and keep their conversations going at a typical American volume. Still, Ian seems to be enjoying himself! Brian, the bassplayer, also seems to be having fun.

After the gig we took Ian’s gear to his car and looked for a restaurant to have dinner. We found a Japanese restaurant, and it turned out that Ian had not had real sushi before. This was the perfect opportunity to introduce him to this feast, and we had a great dinner, and did a lot of catching up!

Thursday, August 14th

Another gig for Ian, this tiem at the famous ‘Mercury Lounge’. He’s scheduled to go on at 8:00pm, rather early for a gig. And unfortunately, this shows in the number of people coming out to see him. In the end, we’re with nine people (and that includes Saskia, Janneke and myself). Such a shame, as this is a wonderful concert, where he gets to play many of those new songs, and a couple of songs we already know. It is very cool to see how someone like Brian, the bassplayer, can quickly learn these songs and play with Ian. It is also interesting to hear new arrangements for songs we know so well. The bare guitar-and-bass accompaniment of his songs sounds great!

Saskia did not have as much time as Tuesday, as she’s working for the Fringe Festival. I join Brian, Ian and Greg (a New Jersey disk-jockey responsible for getting Ian to the US in the first place) to Rockwood. A great place where Sas and I have been before to listen to several great singer/songwriters. Friends of Brian would be playing there, and Ian was interested in checking the place out as well.

When we got there, the place was packed. We got in through the back entrance and saw some of the gig on a TV screen. We then decided to try and get in the crowded front room, and succeeded at our second attempt. We saw Jeff Taylor and Elizabeth Ziman perform together, and that was an amazing show. Ian was blown away by the fact that we just walked into a club, didn’t ave to pay anything and then saw a show of this quality. He decided he needed to stay in New York After their concert, we met with the artists shortly as Brian introduced them to us. I thought it was very cool to see Ian so enthousiastic about the music and the music scene.

Right, that was it for the week. There is a whole story to write about the weekend as well, but I need some sleep first. Actually, Saskia has already reported on the weekend’s events in upstate New Jersey. Check out this article of the New Jersey Herald!

Hi there all you loyal blog readers!

It’s been a while since our last contest update. So without further ado: The winner of the last picture contest is Wayne! He has managed to correctly identify all of the pictures, and was (only a little bit) more detailed in his answers than the close runner-up, Martijn. For all of you here are the pictures, with Wayne’s descriptions.

Picture 1

Bicycle path signage on the Brooklyn bridge.

Picture 2

Close up of the bow on a really big hello kitty parade balloon in the DC 4th of July parade.

Picture 3

Close up of the Rockefeller Center in NYC

Picture 4

Green M&Ms from a bag of oddly colored ones…

Picture 5

Mmmm, some nice baby back pork ribs…yeehaw!

It’s funny how some people mistook that last picture for something sweet. Roland, where did you get the Salt Water Taffy idea from?

The prizes are on their way! Yes, Martijn, also your prize from about a month ago. We had some difficulties in the shipping department, but the people responsible have been fired, and we think shipment will be normal from now on.

Our creative department is working hard on the next contest. In the mean time, we have a request for you. We’ll be visiting the Kuntry Karaoke again pretty soon. And we’d like to hear from you which songs you’d like to hear us sing, who shoudl sing it, and why. Choose from their extensive set list, and who knows, the next movie on the blog might be your requested song…

Cheers!

The blog editors.

As you may or may not know, Bruce Springsteen is from New Jersey. So when I found out that he would be playing in New Jersey while we were in New York, it seemed only logical that we would try and get tickets to see him play. We found our tickets through Craigslist, and hoped that they would turn out to be valid!

Bruce and the E Street Band would actually be playing three concerts at the Giants Stadium (Sun, Mon & Thu). So in the morning, before went to work, we checked the reviews of the first show on Sunday. They were ravingly positive, so even more excited I went to my meeting in Midtown. Luckily, this meeting didn’t take too long, so I got home in time to change and get ready.

After checking about four times whether I really had the tickets in my pocket, we left for the 42nd Street bus terminal, from where buses would have a regular service to the Stadium. We bought some lunch and some water, found the ticket booth (scary people behind the ticket booth!) and then found our way to the busses. It was still very early, and therefor very quiet. I’m pretty sure things would have been completely different in Holland!

We got on the bus and after a short ride (15/20 minutes?) we arrived at Giants Stadium. It was amazingly quiet there. Hardly any people were at the stadium. Most people that were there were still on the parking lot, barbecuing and listening to their radios. Lots of Springsteen, of course. So this is what the Americans do on a concert or game night. They go to the stadium, and have a party in the parking lot. Sounds like a lot of fun!

We walked around for a bit, and then sat down in the shade, waiting for the gates to open around 18:00. A couple of dutchies sat down next to us and we kept quiet. Didn’t feel like mingling. Amazingly, a little later, two other dutch guys sat down between the other Dutchies and us. We still kept quiet while they chatted. How on earth does this happen in New Jersey?

When the gates opened, we got up and very easily made our way into the stadium. Turns out our tickets were valid! We had to leave behind our umbrella, but were allowed to bring a bottle of water in. Except for the cap, that had to be tossed in the bin. Interesting concept.

In Holland, by now everybody would be pushing to get in and run to find their spot. Of course, i have only been to the General Admission area in concerts, never had an assigned seat before. But everything went so incredibly smooth here, I was amazed. We both were.Very nice though. I guess this did show our non-nativeness off a bit, as for the next hour-and-a-half, we basically were some of the very few that actually entered the stadium, except for the people in the GA pit. This GA pit (General Admission) is the only place in the stadium where people do not have an assigned seat. It is a very small area in front of the stage. I think it will not hold more than a thousand people. Everybody else is seated. This is so strange. In Holland, the whole floor area would be General Admission, which means a lot more people would be able to fit into the stadium, I think.

We waited in the sun for it to go down, and towards 20:00 saw the stadium finally fill up. Around 20:30, The lights went out, the stadium started roaring and the band came out. Goosebumps from the noise of the crowd, and the realization that we were going to see The Boss play in his hometown!

Their opening song was “Out in the Street”. While I’m typing this, I realize that many or our readers are not big Springsteen fans, and many of these songs might nolt mean anything. But I’m going to write my whole review anyway, maybe I can convert some of you. I’ll be setting up a playlist in YouTube with all of these songs, so you can have a look ‘n listen…

One of the cool things of a BS&TESB concert is that you don’t know what you’re gonna get. In fact, the band doesn’t know it either. As Nils Lofgren, one of the guitarists, recently put it:

“I know that I’ll get a setlist that will surprise me the first night. And I know that Bruce won’t follow it. I know that the entire night will be one big audible (= leader changing things while playing [JN]), and I’ll be freaking out, and having a ball, and being extremely challenged. But as someone who is very comfortable in front of an audience, with an instrument, that’s a very exciting challenge.”

To illustrate this a bit more, from the 28 songs Bruce would play over the course of this concert, only 13 were played on Sunday! This keeps things interesting for the band, as well as for the people that come to see all shows. And there seem to be quite a few of those. As you can see from the written setlist here on the left, and the actual setlist, changes are being made while playing.

Anyway, on with the concert. It was great to hear the sound quality. Being this far away from the stage, and in such a stadium, I wasn’t expecting too much. But it was actually quite good, and most of the little talks between the songs could actually be understood.

The band regularly plays a cover or two, and ‘Summertime Blues’ has become a regular on the tour. This brings Clarence Clemons, the sax-player into the spotlight, doing the low-voiced lines in the song. It seems that nowadays, Clarence is not as lively as he used to be. He moves slower and just doesn’t go out into the big sax solo’s as much as he used to.

“Held up without a gun” is a very rare song to hear in a concert. In fact, they’ve only played it once or twice. It is an old song (1980), not on any of the regular albums, and deals with the price of gasoline. So it is very topical, as there is a lot of fuss about gasoline prices here (imagine, $4 per gallon, that is almost 70 Eurocents per litre. Tough times!). Sort of a punk-like, very short thing. Fun for it’s rarity-value rather than for the actual song.

After this they played ‘Hard to be a Saint in the City’. Another indication of the ad-hoc-ness of the concerts, as Bruce wasn;t sure in what key to play, trying some chords, and statign “We’re playing this in C tonight”. After some feedback from his band: “Yes, I know it’s in A. We’re playing it in C tonight. Let’s see if I can sing it that way. And If not, we’re gonna go back to A!”. Some might consider this unprofessional, but I just really like the whole feeling of this. It sort of creates an intimate atmosphere in a stadium with 40.000 people. It actually sounded a bit messy, but when Steve Van Zandt and Bruce start battling it out on their guitars, everything is cool again!

‘Sherry Darling’ was another one of those songs that hardly ever gets played, cool to hear that live. In ‘Because the Night’, Nils Lofgren got his two minutes of fame, going completely wild during his guitar solo. He even pulled of a summersault while playing (see the youtube video). Saskia’s neighbour actually asked her “Who wrote this song?”. I knew it was Bruce, and Patti Smith used the song and made it famous. But after some investigation back home, it turns out they co-wrote it. You learn something new every day!

WIth ‘Drive all Night’, another rarity from ‘The River’ was played. An emotional song, that had me covered in goosebumps again. After about two-and-a-half hours, the band went back to their dressing rooms, only to come back out again after 30 seconds or so. This is when the encores begin. It actually started with Bruce announcing that his wife Patti (also in the band as singer/guitarist) would be celebrating her birthday tomorrow, and let the audience sing for her. It turned out a lot of the family was present, as in the next song (’Girls in their summer clothes’), he came down to sing and dance with his daughter.

Then the band played ‘Thunder Road’, possibly my all-time favourite Springsteen song. Goosebumps again. When the band got ready to do ‘Born to Run’, a sure hit with any crowd, he brought out a guest drummer. This was actually Max Weinberg’s son, and he played a very energetic set on his fathers drums. After that they played ‘American Land’, and that seemed to be the real end to it. After three hours, that wasn’t bad at all.

However, Bruce escaped from the rest of the band doing their bows and waving to the crowd to pick up yet another sign with a request for a song. The crowd started going crazy, but Bruce said that he thought we couldn’t take it anymore. More crazyness. “But I don’t wanna hurt anyone” - “Are you sure” - Etc… But in the end, I think the whole stadium convinced him that there was enough energy left for one more song. Jesse Malin and Marah’s Dave Bielanko (whom I’d never heard of) joined them on stage (to make for a total of six guitars!) to play ‘Twist and Shout’. And his daughter joined her mother on stage, with some friends, to make for a strange, homely-feeling ending of the show.

All in all, they played for more than three hours. At the risk of sounding old, I would say that there are hardly any bands touring nowadays that could (and would want to) do the same thing. And then change the setlist dramatically every night, to keep it interesting for all. Every Bruce Springsteen concert that I’ve seen so far has been great, but this was by far the greatest! Check out the YouTube playlist for more impressions!

There really is live music to be heard very day of the week, without much trouble. When Yvon was visiting, we went to Rockwood Music Hall on Sunday. We walked in, and just like last time we were there, the band stopped playing. That was a pity, as they sounded pretty good (and slightly country). We ordered a drink and waited for the next band to start.

The next act was a singer/songwriter who had a couple of musicians around her. Although her voice was cool, and the songs were kind of nice, it didn’t do it for me. Saskia and Yvonne seemed to enjoy themselves a bit more. After her, a guy took to the stage with just a guitar. He had a strange, high-pitched voice and sang a few songs to an almost empty bar. I liked that gig a little more, but we’ve seen much better!

On Monday night, we were supposed to go and see another night of Kuntry Karaoke. However, we were all a little too tired, and decided to stay on Manhattan. We had dinner at a noddle bar, right across from Arlene’s Grocery. And that is where, every Monday night, they host the Hardrock Karaoke! So, after dinner we really had to go and check it out.

The show had already started when we walked in, and the place was full! The band (same line-up as in Pakhuis Wilhelmina, 2 guitars, bass, drums) was great, and played with ease. Their songlist contains over a 100 songs! The MC was not the most energetic man, but he kept things going. And the performers were all amazingly good, with only one or two exceptions. Definitely NOT a place to just get up and sing. At least, not for me. That will have to happen at Hank’s Saloon at some point, I guess

Th elast bit of live music reporting is about this Saturday., We saw that the River to River festival had an schduled an evening to celebrate the music of Johnny Cash. Since we both like his music a lot, this sounded like something we should check out. It was going to be held at the Winter Garden in the Financial District. We got on our bikes and cycled around the southern tip of Manhattan towards the Financial District. This is a very new area, along the Hudson, and has a nice bike & footpath.

We relaxed for a couple of hours, enjoying the sun and reading a bit. We went in around 19:00, the show would start at 20:00. It was already relatively packed, all chairs were taken so we found ourselves a spot on the marble stairs. And this is when we started worrying. Not only the staircase, but everything (walls, floors) were made out of stone & marble. And the place is covered by glass. This makes for sub-optimal acoustics…

When the show started, it was immediately clear that this venue is not meant for live, amplified music. The sound quality was really poor. We liked some of the performers, and their interpretations of Johnny Cash’s songs. But the quality was so bad (and the stairs so uncomfortable) that after only 45 minutes we decided to leave.

Now it is Monday, July 28th. And we’re about to leave for New Jersey. East Rutherford, to be precise. Giants Stadium at Meadowlands. To see Bruce Springsteen! We’ll have an update soon!

Sunday was going to be Museum day but first we had breakfast at the Pink Pony, a lovely French cafe with dreamy French waitresses which gave the place an over relaxed atmosphere. Yvon and I had yoghurt with granola and fruit (we had eggs and toast yesterday) and Jacco had strawberry pancakes which were very good! Then Jacco wanted to see if the guitar shop next door had a dobro guitar which he could check out. They had one but he was immediately warned by a blond long haired sales guy that it wasn’t a good one (very honest). Jacco tried it and the guy was right, it wasn’t good, for 400 dollars you expect a honky tonk sound you want to yodel too…or at least Jacco wants to.

We left and as we walked back to Rivington Street where a band was playing we came past a hairdresser where Jacco went in to ask if they, by any chance, had time to give him a haircut. They did and and while Jacco tried to explain about his desired rock and roll ‘kuif’ (Roland, what is that in English?) Yvon and I suddenly heard the owner say ‘warm weer vandaag he!’…turned out to be a man from Crooswijk, Rotterdam who left Holland 37 years ago and now lived with his wife in NY and owned this salon. He still had a Rotterdam accent and it was nice chatting with him. After a about 20 minutes Jacco was finished and very happy with having less hair (this weather makes you want to go bald!). We then decided we would finally go uptown to go to the Metropolitan Museum. I don’t know how we did it but when we arrived we had about an hour so we decided we would only see the Turner exposition and the roof top with the Jeff Koons sculptures and of course the amazing view. When the museum closed we left for a shady space in Cental Parkand Jacco offered to run to a deli and get us some drinks and chips. You know how you sometimes end up somewhere close to perfect for that moment? Well, this was the spot, just on the outside of the park, thick grass, beautiful trees, quiet with still a lot to see and a cool breeze to lighten the hot and sticky day. We lay and sat there for about two hours…mmmm. But we had another goal for that day…before you think that’s all we did that day, we wanted to show Yvon some more live music! So Yvon hailed her first cab home, we changed and left for the Living Room, one of the live music venues in Lower East Side. Unfortunately the band hadn’t started yet so we just drank a Margarita (Yvon’s first one!). We then decided we would first get some dinner before going to another live venue and ended up at a fusion/mexican place Jacco and I had been before. Despite the fact the place was almost empty (last time it was completely packed) we had a nice dinner and a another (bad) Margarita. Finally we were ready for live music and we went to Rockwood, a cosy venue where about 8 bands per night perform. We saw two completely different acts. The first was a girl on electric guitar with a bass player, drummer and another guy on electric guitar. Her music and voice were nice but it was hard to understand her lyrics and we wondered why she didn’t use an acoustic guitar. That would have given it the warm sound we missed (as if we know anything about it…). The last act was a guy solo on guitar who sang Bob Dylan like songs. He looked quite shy but at that time he was playing before an almost empty bar and thanked us several times for staying and listen to him. Tired but satisfied with our ‘cultural’ day we walked home where Yvon now had the whole apartment to hearself.

Monday we started the day with a skype call with my mother and Teun. They found it very special to see both of us on the NY web cam now. Because I had to prepare for an interview I had that afternoon we went to the Orchard cafe for breakfast and wifi. At two I went to my interview in Chelsea and Yvon went to buy new sunglasses (hers kept dropping a glas) but after half an hour we met up again because due to some misunderstanding the two managers I had a meeting with weren’t in the office. At the Apple store I send an email to arrange for another meeting (so easy being able to do that at the Mac’s there) and Yvon and I went to the Bus Stop Cafe for lunch and to 11th Street Cafe for coffee. We then wanted to go to the river and took a subway near to Pier 17. There we boarded a free ferry to IKEA. I know, it sounds weird but it’s a nice ride to the south of Brooklyn and upon arrival you can immediately take a ferry back,..and again it breaks the heat because we were still in the middle of our heatwave. We then strolled along Pier 17 a bit and went for a drink at a cafe next to Fulton Market where Jacco joined us. We wandered what to do that evening and decided we would like to check out the Hard Rock Karaoke near our place. After a wine at the Marshall stack and noodles at ?? we went to the karaoke bar. They had just started and it was already completely packed. It seemed quite similar to the one in Amsterdam, relaxed atmosphere, extremely good band, mixed crowd, with one apparent difference,…every act was good! No way one of us thought we could go up there, they were all professional singers or very, very good amateurs. So we enjoyed another night of fun live music.

Tuesday we took the the subway downtown and went on a one hour boat trip along the south side of Manhattan. A very good start of the day. It was a bit foggy but we still had the nice views. After that we strolled along Wall Street and visited the Trinity Church. Out on Wall Street again we got a bit nervous of the huge amount of fire trucks and policemen in bomb suites. Yvon asked what was wrong and apparantly there had been a fire in one of the sky skraper’s elevetors, but it was under control. Relieved, we walked to the west waterfront where we had lunch at cafe alongside a small harbour. The spot was lovely with beautifull view on Jersey and in the shade,…so we thought because when we got up Yvon was heavily sunburned. We bought soem Aloevera and tried to take a cab home but this time it wasn’t that easy. We finally got on and this was one of those suicidal trips again. When he dropped us of about half a mile from our place and said that we could walk from here I didn’t know what i was hearing. I told him that I wanted him to drop us off where we had aske him too but he looked at me with a ‘couldn’t care less’face and said he already turned the meter off. Yvon gave him the tipp less money and left his cab when we saw a girl approaching with a large suitcase. We had been dumped for a airport ride! Up till Yvon’s apartment I was fuming and coming up with thing we should have said. To late of course but at least I know what to do next time. At the apartment Yvon covered herself up so she wouldn’t be exposed to the sun anymore and decided she wanted to go to the movie (Tell no one, a mystery drama) while I had to go to my writing course in the West Village. We met up again at her place and luckily her skin felt not too bad. After a quick shat we called it an early night.

Wednesday, after breakfast at Orchard Cafe (of course) we took the subway to Bryant Park to search for a theater book shop we found on the internet. It was just 10 minutes walk from the park and what a perfect shop! I think we spend around an hour there and Yvon looked like a little girl in a candy store! With a full bag we bought a juice at Jamba Juice and sat in the park still gleeming over our purchases. Well, mine was just a ‘boring’ book about ‘the new rules of marketing’ but Yvon bought plays of Becket, a book with monoloques for women and a guide how to study for an American accent! We then briefly visited the old Library where Yvon took some arty pictures of me before we had to run to the subway to be in time for one of the Summer Play Festival plays. It turned out we had the last two tickets to see ‘Future me’, a very impressive play about a guy convicted for pedophilia. Because we didn’t know what the play was going to be about it took us a bit off guard and it got me thinking about it for quite a while. The strenght of the play was that the play was written from the man’s perspective, which it very honest and trouble some. Although Yvon and I could have used a drink after seeing this I didn’t have time because I had to go to a training at the Fringe Festival, where I will be working as a Box Office Manager from August 8th until the 24th.
The training was more an introduction to the box office system during the festival but it made me very enthousiastic! After the training I met Jacco and Yvon at a bar near the restaurant ‘One if by land, two if by sea’ where we had dinner reservations. For a description of that evening; read Jacco’s blog entry.

Thursday, Yvon’s last day! Because I had a n early morning appointment at the doctor to check my B12 level I met with a very fresh and non hang over Yvon at 11:30 at the New Museum of Modern Art. The week before we didn’t see everything so we wanted to see the remaining exhibition. We then walked met up with Jacco on Grand Street for lunch and goodbye and afterwards I showed Yvon the Pearl River, a huge Chinese shop with many affordable gifts. Because Yvon had already packed her bags we had time left to have our last drink at the Orchard Cafe where we briefly wrote down what we did during the past week took (a lot!) and where Yvon showed me some Photoshop tricks. At 18:30 it was time to get goning and Yvon hailed her last cab. Turned out to be rush hour so it took a little bit longer than expected but she still had enough time to check in her bags and prepare for the flight home. We said goodbye at customs, looking back on a wonderful time together in NY!