A Day in the City

Hi everyone! Here is a brief recap of a Saturday I spent in NYC two weekends ago, complete with pics! If you're looking to check out the interview I did with awesome artist Patrick Brennan, you can still enjoy it here.

First of all, thank you Tony for spending the day with me!!! I took the train into Manhattan early Saturday morning to meet up with Tony, my old pal from college. One thing I really noticed is that there is abundant (and inspiring!) graffiti along the tracks heading into the city.

I haven't been in the city in, quite literally, years. It was very exciting and a bit overwhelming, as well, because I had a great time, but I also realized quickly that I would not want to live there. I used to want to live in the city so badly, but being a full-time Mom and getting a bit older has settled me against that :)

I went in to see a concert by Dawes, a really awesome band that happens to be my current favorite. I haven't been to a concert since... wow, college. And I haven't been to any more than 3 all together, anyway! So this was quite an experience. Being that I took the train all the way into the city, I figured I might as well spend the day, as the show only began at 8pm. So I met up with Tony at Penn Station, and we went from there.

We enjoyed delicious cupcakes at the House of Cupcakes, a place I spotted as we walked around the Village. Delicious. Then we went on to The Ink Pad, a fantastic arts and crafts store that I had heard about from an artist I admire very much, Diana Trout.

We then ate at a wonderful LITTLE English joint called "Tea and Sympathy". It was fun! They only serve real English dishes. Tony got bangers and mash, and I got mushrooms on toast. It's nothing I ever would have ventured into on my own, but that's the great thing about friends... they expand your possibilities :)

After lunch, we walked around and visited Untion Square before heading into Times Square, and Rockefeller Center, which was too touristy for Tony, who lives in Queens and is in the city all the time, but I loved it :) We visited places I remembered and some new ones, too. We hung around there until it was dinner time, and we grabbed a beautiful Asian dinner at Ruby Foos, which was a "non-tourist" restaurant that he looked up on his cell :)

After dinner, we made our way on the subway over to Terminal 5, where our show was. We got there too early, and after walking all day, we were a little disappointed to discover that it was standing only, but after the show began, it was totally worth it. We all went up to the roof before the show began, and it was really cool because it seems to be constructed out of an old ship.

The opening act was "Shovels and Rope", which was pretty good. They're a husband and wife who are both phenomenal on the guitars. But when the real show began, it was spectacular! The vibe in the place was awesome, and you could tell the real fans because we were all singing along to the songs, and Taylor Goldsmith (the lead singer), actually let us all carry the chorus on one of the songs. It was really, really great. My words simply don't do the experience any justice. Dawes is a 4-man band and is defined as "Americana Soul", and while I'm not quite sure what constitutes that genre of music, I really enjoy them. They're meaningful, deep, and their music is beautiful. If you get the chance to hear any of their songs, I highly recommend it... just do a youtube search for Dawes. You won't regret it :)