fifty frenchmen can't be wrong (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
some_stars) wrote2011-05-23 08:02 pm
some_stars) wrote2011-05-23 08:02 pm
(no subject)
Current status: sitting in a cafe w a slightly overpriced glass of prosecco, listening to the tail end of a talk given by a Holocaust survivor concert pianist and her biographer while I wait for the live music to start. It seems from the description on the site to be a combo of various non-famous professionals and amateur night, and it takes place very close to my apartment. And it's free, aside from the wine. I have done unusually little drinking this trip, I've felt vaguely sick most of the time so it seemed like a bad idea. I think I have regained my zen after Saturday's collapse/catastrophe. Tomorrow is MOCCA, the Drawing Center, and an old movie at Film Forum. Then so much packing. I'm planning to wrap my new glass dildo in dirty clothes; if the TSA are as overfriendly as they were on the way here, we will all have an adventure.
Update: and now I'm feeling intensely socially awkward due to my continuing failures in navigating the whole system of paying at bars and also ordering and it's just so ridiculously confusing and I feel very judged. The music so far is about 50% good, 50% not good.
Update, 11 pm: So that turned out pretty great! Around 9:45 the featured singer (ie, professional) came on with a half hour set, and her singing was good--I'd give it a B-, but an A for the whole performance because she had actual and delightful stage presence. I recorded a couple of her songs and will be putting them on Youtube when I get home. Then a tiny Jewish girl did the most fabulous Stevie Wonder cover I've ever heard, which I TRAGICALLY did not record since I felt like it would be kind of weird to be really obviously filming some random person--I felt awkward enough holding the phone up a foot and a half in the air for minutes on end when I was recording the other woman, who presumably wants to be talked about and linked around on Youtube et al--and then after she finished, the guy in charge announced that she was selling CDs, and so a beautiful opportunity was lost. I did buy her CD, hopefully she will sound as good when I don't have three glasses of prosecco in me. My tolerance is so embarrassingly shot these days--I was literally staggering, albeit slightly, by the time I got back to the apartment. Three glasses! That's just not right.
It was just a really fun vibe on the whole, so if you're ever on the Upper West Side on Monday night and can deal with the prices--it's not expensive, really, certainly not for the neighborhood, but it was a dollar or two more than I'm used to paying at home, and I am a hick in certain respects--and a crowd that skews older(I don't know, maybe this is a plus for you), there are worse places to spend a few hours than the Thalia Cafe at Symphony Space. A recommendation!
Update: and now I'm feeling intensely socially awkward due to my continuing failures in navigating the whole system of paying at bars and also ordering and it's just so ridiculously confusing and I feel very judged. The music so far is about 50% good, 50% not good.
Update, 11 pm: So that turned out pretty great! Around 9:45 the featured singer (ie, professional) came on with a half hour set, and her singing was good--I'd give it a B-, but an A for the whole performance because she had actual and delightful stage presence. I recorded a couple of her songs and will be putting them on Youtube when I get home. Then a tiny Jewish girl did the most fabulous Stevie Wonder cover I've ever heard, which I TRAGICALLY did not record since I felt like it would be kind of weird to be really obviously filming some random person--I felt awkward enough holding the phone up a foot and a half in the air for minutes on end when I was recording the other woman, who presumably wants to be talked about and linked around on Youtube et al--and then after she finished, the guy in charge announced that she was selling CDs, and so a beautiful opportunity was lost. I did buy her CD, hopefully she will sound as good when I don't have three glasses of prosecco in me. My tolerance is so embarrassingly shot these days--I was literally staggering, albeit slightly, by the time I got back to the apartment. Three glasses! That's just not right.
It was just a really fun vibe on the whole, so if you're ever on the Upper West Side on Monday night and can deal with the prices--it's not expensive, really, certainly not for the neighborhood, but it was a dollar or two more than I'm used to paying at home, and I am a hick in certain respects--and a crowd that skews older(I don't know, maybe this is a plus for you), there are worse places to spend a few hours than the Thalia Cafe at Symphony Space. A recommendation!