Change is all around

This week we bid farewell to our favourite RAs, one in particular which broke my heart...beautiful Agustina, gone back to Argentina and now we miss her. But she did leave us two tubs of Dulce de Leche and some cake mixes! Dulce de Leche, for the record, is like the substance found inside Rolos...only in a tub. Mmmmmmm yes!

So this photo is fab apart from how I look special.




We also bid a sad farewell to Kenso, Daniela, Fernando and today, Eduardo. And other Daniela leaves tomorrow. There is a big wave of change.

Hot Loftstel gossip: new RA Chad has been FIRED - gasp dun dun dunnnnn!
He apparently got drunk, shouted abuse at some people, urinated on something inappropriate, walked around the first floor naked and made some of the ladies of the house feel most uncomfortable. Sooo.....BYE! Meh he was a tiny bit of a douche anyway even when sober.

And finally, some juggling. Yes they are sideways but do you think I can work out how to rotate them? Don't be silly.






Has anybody spotted what I've missed? That's right, this week was Faireys Take New York! But such a lot happened that it will probably take at least one brand new post if not several. It was a whirlwind time of mad tourist activity and seeing the sights. It is fun being a tourist in a place where you've been living for 2 months. But also, bloody hard work - New York's exhaaauuusting!

As will writing the post about I'm sure so here I go!xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hanging my head in shame

...at how lazy I've become. I am undeserving of this blog. But...been so busyusyusyusy! With happy happy things! I will have to begin with a photo splurge...partly because that is the only way I can remember what has been going on.

New developments, new faces, all kindsa new food and new fun activities. Here we go:

Well, first...Wave drew on Joe's face with permanent marker. This doesn't really fall into any of the above categories but it happened and there's a picture so it must be blogged. Also his pitiful pleading for her not to draw on his face was balm to our dark twisted evil souls. Hahahahaaa the Fourth Floor Coven strikes again! Look at the terror in his eyes.









Let's see. Well since my last update was the Thursday of Carnegie Hall madness, I am astonishingly behind...so I will go from Pancake Day.

Tuesday was Mardi Gras if you're from New Orleans or Pancake Day if you're from Merrie Englande. Which I am.

Lengthy discussions over what exactly constitutes a pancake did not deter me. If it's pancake day I will eat pancakes! And I will eat them like I would at home! This is how the discussion arose, in fact. Because the American pancake is very different from the English one, and then you get a Frenchy type person chucking crepes into the mix and also flapjacks? Now that really got me.

Observe:



We have the American, the English, and the Froggy. All clearly very different. I'm not exactly sure what the difference between English pancake and French crepe is...BUT IT'S NOT THE SAME OK!

And finally to confuse things further...




Mmmmm delicious tasty flapjacks, oats and syrup and sugar and butter and whatever else you may choose to put in theeem...






Aaaand more delicius tasty flapjacks and - waaait a second. Those are frickin pancakes! Gaaaah stop renaming things things that are already named those things!





Anyhoo. In the end I got quite vehement about the need to eat non-American pancakes on Pancake Day, and so after some Googling set off with Joe to one 'Crepe du Nord' which is located down below Wall St.

While so this was new territory for me.

It was very hustly and bustly down there with lots of nice buildings...inc. this somewhat significant one - hello Traaaading Flooooor! The Stock Exchange. Hmm, I stood in front of many many illions of dosh that day. Joe used to work in a building right down by the waterfront in the Financial District so he has a fair amount of local knowledge. Things I learned:

This place is very historical and here's why.It was on a night in August 1775, in the build up to the war, that Fraunces Tavern first gained notoriety. A group of American rebels, including Alexander Hamilton, set about dismantling British cannons at the Battery. When these young patriots were discovered, a British warship in the harbor fired the first cannon ball of the Revolution, which subsequently crashed through the roof of the tavern.

Samuel Fraunces, master of the house, was a passionate but secret patriot and used his position to spy on the unknowing loyalists. Fraunces passed information to Continental Army officers, and this loyalty would later secure him a short-lived position as President Washington's steward.

At the end of the war, after the last British soldiers had left America, it was at Fraunces Tavern that George Washington gathered his officers to bid them farewell. Washington was much beloved and delivered a speech in the tavern's Long Room which has been remembered for its touching eloquence. The museum holds in its collection the memoirs of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, which documents this famed farewell address.

So we wandered in and had a look around. Many other significant buildings were pointed out to me. Sadly I am a Neanderthal and cannot remember the rest of them.

Anyway we came to the most important building, Crepe Du Nord, where I had originally intended to get a classic lemon and sugar...but was so overcome by the other temptations on offer that I succumbed and got a deeelishus chocolate raspberry concoction with ice cream...and Joe got a crepe with cloudberry syrup.

Yup...cloudberry. Mostly out of curiosity as to what the fudge a cloudberry may be.



Voila. Small Eastern European berry, looks a bit like an orange raspberry, tastes a bit like apricots. Tasty.

Also, funnily enough, the building we were in turned out to be historical too. The waitress told me it used to be a brothel frequented by Mr Washington. Hmm.






Views from the waterfront...where you can see Lady Liberty. I will never forget the first time I saw this view, must've been very close to this time last year.
















And err well we know who that it, that is me.

Anywho after the picture taking and history lessons and general wandering, we went home via the liquor store for GIN AND TONIIIIIC! Those who know me well are aware that I adopted this as my drink a while ago and now I have a deep affection for a G&T. So we enjoyed an evening of clinking ice in glasses (or in Wave's case, red cups) and laughing at silly stuff...it was almost like being at home!












At some point in the past week, the heavens opened and we had apocalyptic rain. It was truly epic, I brilliantly wore my holey Converse so enjoyed soggy feet all day long. But no matter, was an enjoyable day spent wandering the Upper West Side doing my best Gene Kelly impession, and then a very weird movie that was good but came to a really abrupt halt...so abrupt in fact that we were a bit startled and didn't know what was going on. But that' indie art-house films for you.

Hmmm Blogger is doing weird things that are making me nervous...so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead and publish this before it can delete it all or something. Love and peace and peace and quietxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (HA not)

You've got the music in you

So.

A momentous week.

About 3 weeks ago Kait walked in and said 'there's a concert at Carnegie Hall with The Flaming Lips and Patti Smith, wanna go?' and Wave and myself said 'yes yes we do'. And then I mostly forgot about it until Thursday when I woke up thinking 'I am going to see Patti Smith perform today'.....ZIIIINNNGGGG!

It's been a quiet week largely because this gig cost $37.00 and I can normally stretch that over a week and a weekend if necessary. So that's the one big expenditure for the week leaving me with nothing much to do...but that's ok. It was so worth it!

The concert was a benefit for Tibet House US

Tibet House US is dedicated to preserving Tibet’s unique culture at a time when it is confronted with extinction on its own soil. By presenting Tibetan civilization and its profound wisdom, beauty, and special art of freedom to the people of the world, we hope to inspire others to join the effort to protect and save it. Tibet House US is part of a worldwide network of Tibetan institutions committed to ensuring that the light of the Tibetan spirit never disappears from the face of this earth.

The artistic director was composer Philip Glass, who also acted as MC for the night.

I won't talk through the whole thing but here's my highlights:

James McCartney. Opening act. He has a great voice, and looks atonishingly like Paul - the Playbill had a section about each artist, and his made me laugh because it was like they were trying so hard to say 'he has inherited his talent from his father' without actually going 'PAUL MCCARTNEY PAUL MACCARTNEY'. Poor guy - he's been gigging most of his life under a pseudonym, can't blame him. Father's shadow and all that.

Anyway. Then we had the fabulous Angelique Kidjo, a Beninoise singer-songwriter, named 'Africa's premier Diva' by Time magazine. She has covered some rad songs, such as 'Gimme Shelter', the Stones' greatest song. Her voice is beautiful and she gave an awesome performance, v. glad to have discovered her.

She was followed by Tenzin Choegyal, a native from Tibet who grew up in India and now lives in Australia - WOW OH WOW, he sang 2 of his own Tibetan-inspired songs, played on a dranyen (a traditional long-necked lute). His voice was something else, I completely drifted away listening to him. I insist you watch this video so you can hear what I'm talking about, live was incredible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-JyOIsuMcw&feature=related Copy and paste link into browser. The flute at the beginning is beautiful but his singing starts at about 3.56.

Then some other stuff happened...all fab but I don't remember exactly who what where. There was Taj Mahal who is big big big on the blues circuit, he performed a beautiful song for which he brought out his daughter to duet, and then did a really classic blues number on the piano.

THE ROOTS - ah I love this band. They are totally unique, they are a hip hop group from Philadelphia and there's loads of them but they always play their own live instruments on stage unlike most hip hop and urban artists, they have what has been described by my good friend Matt Parkinson as 'an organic sound' which is funny cos one of their first albums was called Organix. They are great, and they collaborated with a couple of the other artists - they did a cover of Curtis Mayfield's Move On Up with Angelique Kidjo on vocals, and a number with Taj Mahal. And then they finished with this fantastic cover of Down By The River by Neil Young. This video is filmed from a different performance that they gave of this song, also at Carnegie Hall a couple of weeks earlier. The video quality isn't great but hopefully you get the idea. I never realised what frickin talented musicians they are - the drums, the guitar - the vocals! What a voice! The Roots have a dedicated following, they have a lot of integrity which is why they've had a solid, good, long career and will be going strong for a long time to come. But really they deserve to be much bigger than they are. They should be HUGE in fact. But I'm kind of glad they're not cos it could damage them, like it does for so many! This is Neil Young cover. Fab.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baU-HPOUSJo

Then of course we are onto the mighty Flaming Lips. The whole hall went nuts for them, especially all the other young people with us in the cheap seats at the back. Now, I saw The Lips in September, at a small gathering we like to call BESTIVAL avec Mademoiselle Theodora Sutton. It was epic, their full show on the main stage with the lights and confetti cannons, giant hamster balls, crazy screen projections at the back of the stage...fabulous. So was vair interesting to see them stripped back on an indoor stage, no bells and whistles. It was GRRREAT! They played something...I forget...and then their biggest hit 'Do you realise'. What I now realise is how much I love that song, it's very beautiful.
'You realize the sun doesn't go down It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round' - I love that!
And Wayne Coyne was super cool, as ever. He looks like a classic rock icon from the 70s, which is so my style it's not even funny.

And finally...dun dun DUNNNN the woman we've all been waiting for...PATTI SMITH walked onto the stage for the closing numbers. This woman is too cool for words, so I will not attempt to describe it, just know that she deserves every bit of cred she's earned in her life and hearing her howling that we all have to STAND UP was very inspiring and brought me much joy.
And here's the thing...she just gets cooler as she gets older! She's a living breathing heroine and goddess of punk. She was born in 1946!!!!! The woman's 65! So apparently the secret to growing old is rock 'n roll. Well I always knew that anyway.











After the whole shebang was over we left Carnegie Hall and walked smack bang into Wayne Coyne (Lips frontman) signing autographs. Sadly he didn't have time for me as there was a bus taking him to a party that was about to leave, but I did actually invite him to a party at Loftstel instead. So there, I invited a rockstar to a party, I'm pretty happy with that.

I'm very behind on bloggy things...always busy/tired atm. Will have to do a big catch up, possibly later on today, espesh. since my day began in an interesting manner worth detailing (I think so anyway)

Rock and roll foreverxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I hope you like jammin too

What a lovely evening...sitting in the kitchen, with my red cups and my pseudo-family.
Gbolahan has his guitar and Adam has his clarinet, and this is what they produce when those two things occur simultaneously.

Happiness hit her like a train on a track

Times Square on a sunny afternoon - Quintessentially New York

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tb4fp0gXfA&feature=related
Meet my favourite new dance piece - Spitfire by Matthew Bourne, one of his earlier works, before he became choreographer du jour. This shows why - it's clever, funny, original, still beautiful. It's strong on 3 stalwarts of MB's choreo - gender reversal, ballet-based jokes (playing with standard classical ballet positions and movements) and the ironic objectification of men/male form.


Also meet my new best friend


Awwwww look at the puppy! So, yesterday I was walking up 9th Avenue with Joe when we passed a pet shop with a window of puppies who were all sleeping in a heap...so very cute. So of course I had to go in and visit them, and there were loads more. Really sad, all in little glass fronted cages. Like they were in a mental institution of something, everything white and sterile. So I spent some time talking to all of them, and then I asked if I could get this one out and play with him. He is a shih tzu crossed with something I forgot and is extremely lovely, really playful/mental and veeeery soft. I hope I brightened his day by setting him free for half an hour and giving him cuddles - if it had been within my power I would've bought the whole shopload (but they cost $300 each).













In other news. US courts today ruled in favour of the church groups who picket the funerals of soldiers. Someone read me some of the signs they have - 'You're going to hell' 'Thank god you're dead' etc.
Right. So according to Christianity, it's ok to increase the pain and grief of mourners at a funeral by screaming abuse at the ones they've lost?
Actually not that's unfair. It's not Christianity's fault at all - it's the fault of the ignorant, uninformed wankers who use religion as an excuse for their own prejudice and lack of education. Which is unfair because it gives others a bad name, people who want to practice Christianity but they want to do it in a calm, peaceful manner, who may have opinions but know when to keep them to themselves. I can't believe there is scum on this earth who would do that. What if it was someone they loved being buried, and people stood round the edges of the funeral shouting that they are happy the person is dead? Whatever you believe, however you feel about war and soldiers and whatever - what happened to empathy? Humanity? Understanding? Common human f***ing courtesy?
One argument I was presented with was 'but what about free speech?' WHAT!!! Free speech is fine, hate speech is not. There is a time and a place for free speech, a funeral is not it. I could stand on the street screaming racial slurs on grounds of free speech, I'd get arrested, non? So why should they be allowed to use free speech as their get out of jail free card to disrespect the dead. It's really made me furious. I want to find who these disgusting people are that do this terrible thing, and beat sense into them with their placards. One of the worst bits is that the court ruling was 8-1 in favour. 8-1!!! What kind of idiots are in charge here?

I was told that there are apparently Hell's Angels-esque groups of bikers who turn up the funerals of soldiers on their motorbikes and form a protective circle around the funeral, blocking out the deranged picketers. And they do this free of charge, if you call them. Which I think is quite heart-warming. But still. Doesn't solve the issue of fundamentalist 'religious' groups. Again though, my point about how they aren't religious, not really. There's a book called 'Does my head look big in this?' a story about a teenage Muslim girl in Australia who is growing up nd facing issues in which her religion and it's demands clash with modern Australian teenagerhood. And while it's a novel for teenage girls, it actually deals very intelligently with the religious aspects. For example, when the protagonist's friend is essentially held captive by her mother because she's a girl and 'Islam says so', the protagonist observes that actually, the Koran has no mention of girls being treated in the way her friend is treated. The mother just comes from a narrow-minded culture in a small village in an Arab country, and has learned the villages' beliefs, not the true Islamic ones. But she passes them off as her religion to give her an excuse to do whatever she wants. There is too much of this now. In any religion you care to look, it's occurring. It really makes me a bit sick. Fundamentally, we are all people. Fecking HUMAN BEINGS PEOPLE, LOOK AROUND YOU. It's simple - someone suffers, you help. Whatever you believe, I'm pretty sure Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Jehovah, Jah, Vishnu and the Gurus are all banging their head agaisnt the wall of Heaven/Paradise/Nirvana and going 'NO NO NO, that's NOT how you're supposed to do it! You've completely misinterpreted our instructions!'

Gads.

A brighter note - Friday was my one-month Loftstelversary. So with great pomp and splendour we (Kait, Joe, myself and our new roommate Kiki who is - get this - from Chichester! YAAAY Engerlaaand Engleraaand, more to the point South of England!) headed out to The Olive Branch in the West Village, for some deeelish Meditarranean food. Except for Kait's nachos, not remotely mediatarranean but very tasty-looking. We then headed to famed jazz club Fat Cat to take in some bosa nova and schmooze with our fellow Loftstelites who were already there. Well, it was cool once we were in, very big, the band tuning up...for about 10 minutes. It all went a bit wrong when me and Kait got kicked out for underage drinking. We hadn't even got to the end of one half pint beer between us when a man with an earpiece appeared at her shoulder saying into his walkie-talkie 'I have one and two.' And then, to us - 'You're gonna have to come with me ladies'
Like the mob or something! We passed 2 more guys on the way out all communicating with their earpieces and walkie talkies and goodness knows what else...very efficient! So that was that. Back to Loftstel! I'm really glad we did this in the end because I got to try out my very special Loftstelversary treat.

Now, if you've ever seen an American teen movie, you've seen them having a house party (where the house is gigantic, the parents are out, the guests are glamorous and the neighbours don't notice the noise). At said party, there will be beer kegs, there will be punch. The receptacles out of which these beverages are enjoyed are big red cups. These red cups now have a small cult following among the British yoof, since our house parties are more like this: bring your own whatever, possibly some booze/soft drinks/snacks will be provided but maybe not, someone ends up drinking neat vodka from the bottle, that same person then cries/throws up/both, maybe there will be plastic cups provided, maybe not - if not, grab a mug cos they will go fast. We all look a mess when we arrive and more of one when we leave, and the house/garden is decimated. But we have fun! Still. The red cups are a symbol of the vast crater that lies between the English and the Stateside house party. I tried explaining this to the USA natives that live here but they weren't having any of it - mostly they thought it was funny. Luckily I am backed by fellow Euros Wave and Kiki. And so....dada da daaaaaa

My American dream is complete! Yaaaaaaaay.

That was Friday. Saturday was quiet until the evening when I went exploring in Tribeca/attempting to get lost. It's a testament to how well I've got to know Manhattan - I couldn't get lost! Damn, must go further downtown next time. Then had a really tasty pastrami sandwich - as someone said 'those Italians really know how to treat a pig'.

Sunday was spent pretty much entirely on the roof in the wind and sunshine. Well, about 4 hours anyway. Lovely lovely. Then in the evening it was a house Oscars marathon - we watched from 6pm, when the arrivals started. Then the red carpet, then the ceremony. (I had to break halfway through to cook and eat pasta). It was entertaining in that schmaltzy 'it's the Oscars, be entertained' way, though nothing spectacular. Best bit of course - Colin Firth winning Best Actor, and his speech was really good too. The best speeches tend to be given by the crew-type people or design, behind the scenes people. The actors who recieve awards tend to just sound luvvy and media trained. When it's coming from the sound designer who isn't a glitzy star he's just a regular guy with a lot of skill at his job, the speech is often more heartfelt. But Mr. Firths was great. I love him!

And then there was wandering, puppies, food, fire escape, lots of other lovely things...and today there may be flexibility class, depending on the old knees. Which are ok today but I never know - they have developed random pain spasms, right in the front of my kneecaps or just on the inside of my kneecaps. Bizarre/annoying/ow. Also a bloody mosquito bit me. Grr.......time for beans on toast, that's right, beans on English muffin toast no less. Rule Britannia!

Peace and lovexxxxxxxxxxx