Check out the super blue pants!
Here’s a picture from the trip, snapped at the Silk Road Café in Chinatown, one of my favorite venues. One of the few places DHC has played on each trip to NYC.
Sorry I couldn’t do a better job of keeping y’all posted from our travels. Time just seems to fly by over there – you look at your watch and it’s noon, you grab a coffee, and next time you look at your watch it’s 4:00. I chalk it up to a better reliance on trains over taxis this time, which requires better planning ahead, but we felt really rushed the entire time. Shall I tell you all about it?
We arrived on Tuesday night. That flight always feels very long. We trained it in from Newark to Penn Station, and as we walked out of the station into the bigness that is the midtown area, with all its bright lights and hustling crowds, I thought to myself, “this place must have felt very different 30 years ago, pre-Giuliani, when standing outside Penn Station at night might get you killed,” and just as I was thinking that to myself, a big pack of dudes chased one smaller dude down the sidewalk, knocking people over left and right, catching the dude as he crossed the street. They beat him pretty bad with baseball bats. It was pretty surreal. The cops were there immediately. That was a little weird. We caught a cab at that point.
We dropped our stuff at our friend Tina’s place in Brooklyn. We would have just enough time to cab in to the city and meet Tina in Chelsea before getting to our first stop, a late Tuesday show at the Sidewalk in the Lower East Side. We met at a place called Market, had some beers and some coffees, caught up a little bit, met Tina’s friend Jenny, and then hopped another cab to the show.
What to say about the Sidewalk? It was nice to play, but we were delayed getting up, and not too many people stuck around to watch (Tina and Jenny were there, yay for them), so we said our thanks and busted over to Park Slope in Brooklyn to a place called Bar 4. We got a spot at 3:30 AM, played a couple of songs, and afterward, grabbed a slice and headed back to Tina’s. And if you don’t already know all about Tina, check out her blog here. She’s a sweetheart.
Wednesday night we were back in the Williamsburg/Bushwick area, I think – at two venues. Spike Hill is a nice little rock club – we really regretted not being able to play there in 2008, but the timing didn’t work out. So we got to play this time, and it was all good. Met some cool dudes called The Big Hat, they laid it down. Other good music and comedy as well. We hit out for one more Wednesday stop, at Stain Bar a few blocks away. Did I mention that it was flippin’ FREEZING in NY the entire time we were there? Well, it was. Bitter cold. Especially between 2 and 4 in the AM. Stain Bar was a nice little coffee and wine bar, not too crowded, no amps or microphones, and the radiator was getting ready to blow up at any second. We met some very nice people there, played a couple of 3 song sets, and made our way back to Brooklyn Heights.
Kay was our barista buddy at a place called Siggy’s on Henry Street – very sweet smile. And the place smelled heavily of fresh cut wheatgrass, which is always nice. So Thursday morning started out with coffee and breakfast at Clark’s, and then a day of doing whatever – when you go to bed at 4:30 AM and get up at 1:00 PM, the day has a way of getting away from you. So by the end of breakfast, it was already time to get going for Lilly Coogan’s and Lucky Jacks, both in the LES. Lucky Jacks didn’t end up happening, because Lilly Coogan’s went very well. Our new friend Jaclyn Dima signed us up for a spot around 11:00, I got to hang with Tina and a good friend from way back, Kristen King, whom I haven’t spoken with in ages. We played our spot, and then played “The Weight” and “Long Black Veil” with a gent named Andrew, very cool dude, and another gent named Brad came up and jammed with us on saxophone for the next two hours. Jaclyn let us loose, which was good for everybody. Again, we ate – Papaya King, I think, which was awesome, and then headed back.
Friday was the Silk Road. I always contact these folks a couple of months ahead, to see if they can get us on for the Friday Night Show. Always a highlight of the trip for me, and this year was no different. We got in and up right away, and played for a very kind and appreciative audience. Last time we were here, a big festival was taking place in Little Italy, just a couple of blocks over. Tonight the streets were quiet. I think we headed back, but I can’t remember exactly.
Saturday got an early start at Banjo Jim’s on 9th and Avenue C. Great little place, but the cold was so harsh that it pulled the guitars out of tune. The room is so crowded and the audience listens so intently that it makes it a little hard to play there, but we still had a good time. We were invited to a party in the Upper West Side that night, which was great. But afterward we had a hard time finding something to eat, so McDonalds was what we got. Sucked.
Sunday was supposed to be the pinnacle of the trip, because we had Pete’s Candy Store and Bar Matchless, two very nice pubs a couple of blocks apart. When you can find places that are close to one another, you’re doing well. But we missed the signup at Pete’s and Bar Matchless was closed for a private party in the stage room, so we were out of luck. Happily, I had a backup plan – a little place called Perch Café in Park Slope. Met some great poets, comedians and musicians and got to play for a very receptive crowd. So we turned it from nothing to something, and that was a good thing.
Monday was a night off – I meant to hook up with our friend Craig Greenberg at either Caffe Vivaldi or Kenny’s Castaways, but I had made the commitment to see Wakey! Wakey! at the Livingroom on Ludlow. So I was bummed that I didn’t get to see him play. But Wakey was great, glad I was able to catch that show. Very crowded. And Tuesday night we returned to Bar 4 to bookend the week of wonder. Wednesday we walked around a bit, saw Geoffrey Rush near Lincoln Center, then caught a cab to Newary Liberty Airport for our flight back home.
