Adventure in NYC
I went to NYC yesterday. I had a ticket to see Tori Amos at Radio City Music Hall and decided to make a day of it. I arrived in the early afternoon and spent a few hours shopping for a dress to wear to my cousin's wedding next month. I finally found something that suited me- now I have to look for shoes.
Before meeting Gina for dinner, I stopped at Economy Candy on the Lower East Side. For such a small shop, it is quite an overwhelming place. I had to walk through it twice to take it all in- high shelves piled with every kind of candy imaginable (except what I came there to find- they were out of Chick-O-Sticks). Much of the candy was hard to find or not carried by regular stores- stuff I grew up with like BB Bats, Teaberry gum and Mallow Cups. They even had some British candies like Aero Bars and real Cadbury bars. I could have spent a lot more time, and money, in there, but I had to leave in order to meet Gina.
We went to a delightful French diner. It was tiny, and so were the wine glasses. The food was fantastic- I ordered mussels in a cream saffron sauce with shallots. They came out in a little pot crammed full to overflowing- there must have been three or four dozen in there. I felt bad that Gina had to wait as I worked my way through them all, but they were incredibly good.
Then we wandered around a bit, stopping at a shoe store, but nothing caught my fancy to go with the dress.
I left Gina to go to the concert. I stopped into an Aerosoles a few blocks from Radio City and found a few possibilities for the shoe search.
When I arrived at Radio City, I found that my seat was in the very back row. At least I didn't have to worry about annoying concertgoers behind me. More on that later. The opening act was One Eskimo, whom I've never heard of. I was pleasantly surprised, however- I enjoyed their set quite a bit. They are an indie band from the UK, very acoustic-based. The lead singer had something on his head that looked like either cat ears, feathers or a paper crown, but I was too far away to tell.
I had last seen Tori Amos in 1992, after the release of Little Earthquakes. I was a freshman in college, and she was playing at the Cook College Center. (She's come a long way since!) I hadn't heard of her until this guy I hung out with at the time asked if I wanted to go to the show, and played Little Earthquakes for me. I liked it a lot, so I went to the show in the tiny college hall. It was amazing, and she liked to stop playing for a while to tell the audience stories about her career.
So I was looking forward to seeing Tori again after all these years (no pun intended). I wasn't disappointed. She has amazing talent; I'm particularly impressed by her piano playing. The performance was very energetic- there wasn't even an intermission. And she still told stories, although I think not as much as in the past- her body of work is considerably larger now- more songs to play.
What I was not impressed with was the conduct of some of the members of the mostly female audience- particularly most of those around me. These people just couldn't make it for two and a half hours without texting, Twittering or going on Facebook with their phones. My God, what on Earth did we do before cell phones and wireless internet!!! I go to concerts to see and hear the performer, not distracting glowing screens. I wanted to smack the girl on my left- she texted after every song it seemed (tell your friends to get their own tickets!) and sometimes sang along (there's a reason Tori Amos was onstage and this girl wasn't). I also found distracting the glowing blue light-up swizzle sticks that Radio City was putting in the mixed drinks. I guess they needed some gimmick to justify charging ten bucks a pop. Although most people had the courtesy to either turn them off or put them away during the show, they were almost as bad as the phones. At least the seat on my right was vacant- I should have moved over.
Despite that, I was very glad I went to the concert. The trip home was uneventful.
Before meeting Gina for dinner, I stopped at Economy Candy on the Lower East Side. For such a small shop, it is quite an overwhelming place. I had to walk through it twice to take it all in- high shelves piled with every kind of candy imaginable (except what I came there to find- they were out of Chick-O-Sticks). Much of the candy was hard to find or not carried by regular stores- stuff I grew up with like BB Bats, Teaberry gum and Mallow Cups. They even had some British candies like Aero Bars and real Cadbury bars. I could have spent a lot more time, and money, in there, but I had to leave in order to meet Gina.
We went to a delightful French diner. It was tiny, and so were the wine glasses. The food was fantastic- I ordered mussels in a cream saffron sauce with shallots. They came out in a little pot crammed full to overflowing- there must have been three or four dozen in there. I felt bad that Gina had to wait as I worked my way through them all, but they were incredibly good.
Then we wandered around a bit, stopping at a shoe store, but nothing caught my fancy to go with the dress.
I left Gina to go to the concert. I stopped into an Aerosoles a few blocks from Radio City and found a few possibilities for the shoe search.
When I arrived at Radio City, I found that my seat was in the very back row. At least I didn't have to worry about annoying concertgoers behind me. More on that later. The opening act was One Eskimo, whom I've never heard of. I was pleasantly surprised, however- I enjoyed their set quite a bit. They are an indie band from the UK, very acoustic-based. The lead singer had something on his head that looked like either cat ears, feathers or a paper crown, but I was too far away to tell.
I had last seen Tori Amos in 1992, after the release of Little Earthquakes. I was a freshman in college, and she was playing at the Cook College Center. (She's come a long way since!) I hadn't heard of her until this guy I hung out with at the time asked if I wanted to go to the show, and played Little Earthquakes for me. I liked it a lot, so I went to the show in the tiny college hall. It was amazing, and she liked to stop playing for a while to tell the audience stories about her career.
So I was looking forward to seeing Tori again after all these years (no pun intended). I wasn't disappointed. She has amazing talent; I'm particularly impressed by her piano playing. The performance was very energetic- there wasn't even an intermission. And she still told stories, although I think not as much as in the past- her body of work is considerably larger now- more songs to play.
What I was not impressed with was the conduct of some of the members of the mostly female audience- particularly most of those around me. These people just couldn't make it for two and a half hours without texting, Twittering or going on Facebook with their phones. My God, what on Earth did we do before cell phones and wireless internet!!! I go to concerts to see and hear the performer, not distracting glowing screens. I wanted to smack the girl on my left- she texted after every song it seemed (tell your friends to get their own tickets!) and sometimes sang along (there's a reason Tori Amos was onstage and this girl wasn't). I also found distracting the glowing blue light-up swizzle sticks that Radio City was putting in the mixed drinks. I guess they needed some gimmick to justify charging ten bucks a pop. Although most people had the courtesy to either turn them off or put them away during the show, they were almost as bad as the phones. At least the seat on my right was vacant- I should have moved over.
Despite that, I was very glad I went to the concert. The trip home was uneventful.