NEW YORK CITY!?!?!?

everything but the last two pics won't load for me

Next day was a bit rough to begin. Wander around Central Park then head to Pastrami Queen on the east side. HUGE Hot Pastrami sandwich that almost put me in a coma.



We explored around the Park some more and then made a half hearted attempt to rally at Beer Culture but I went back to the hotel and napped. After the show I had some street food and then went to the James Brown Dance Party. AmadeusPizza was our final stop on the way home. We tried Stella's, Gotham and Famous Original Ray's Pizza first but they were 45 minute waits at 3 o'clock in the morning or closed. Amadeus was closing and gave us half of what was left.

Next morning we all headed to Brooklyn. First stop Konditori Sweedish Espresso Coffebar which I didn't know was a thing and then Baglesmith Bedford. AWESOME bagels and muffins.


Short little walk to Spuyten Duyvil for a Fantome Saison d'Erezee Printemps on tap in a little beer garden!



Then to Rosamunde Sausage Grill for beer and a Wild Boar Sausage (There is a Rosamunde next door to Toronado on Haight in SF) 



A stop by a bakery for a chocolate cupcake for Pam and an espresso for me. Then to Brooklyn Bowl. Brooklyn Brewing is right next door and there was a line to get in to the brewery, no thanks, but not Brooklyn Bowl!.


Back to Joe's Pizza for a real slice, Dziupla for pierogi


and finish up at Mugs Alehouse for Metallica pinball and beer.


Go to the show and afterwards go to Rattle & Hum West (not East, an important distinction we learned) and then close out with some dollar slices at 2 Bros Pizza.

LOL!

I think i have the energy to post a trip review - final conclusion for those that want to skip ahead is that NYC was amazing - i'll post a show review once my brain is more recovered in the music you have seen thread.

So never been to NYC before - We land on friday (two weeks ago today, but it seems much longer) drop the bags off at our hotel in Koreatown about 5 blocks from MSG. My friend and i walk out and take a right down the road, just looking up at all the building and accidentally walk right into MSG / Penn Station. Take a few pictures of the murals, etc. and eventually find a rooftop bar / restaurant on the corner for a few beers / people watching. The rest of the weekend crowd makes it to the hotel and we go find a bar, stock up on beer, etc. and eat some food, etc. and then it is showtime. Post show, we head to the Gramercy Theater and walk around koreatown a bit, lots of people and good food for late night.

Saturday we are able to get moving around noonish and then go to the Other Half Brewery in Brooklyn - absolutely amazing and some of the best beer i have ever had, took some cans back to the hotel for the rest of the weekend - go and eat a lobster roll and then walk to a statue of liberty viewing platform overlooking the bay and a bunch of NYC, hang out there for an hour and then uber back to NYC going over the Brooklyn Bridge which was one of the best city tours i've ever had - major props to our driver knowing all the buildings, etc. Rest up for show and then discovering a bar called "Billymarks" near MSG - A miller high life and any shot you want (I would go with makers usually) for $8 - plus it wasn't crowded. Post show we go to this awesome cocktail bar that our friend had been looking to check out and she was right.

Sunday, started moving a bit slow, took the train out to the Yankees game and sat in the upper deck under the shade for a while and checked out the Yankees museum before heading back and went to American Beauty pre-show. Free pizza and a pretty solid pre-show band met some people who are from lower Alabama sitting next to us and hung out with them that evening.

Monday we check out, drop our bags off at a holding area and then walk around central park for a couple hours, I say bye to my friends who aren't staying and then keep walking around downtown Manhattan looking at all the architecture, had a beer and some food in Grand Central Station, went into some incredible cathedral which also happened to be having mass and then headed towards financial district (was staying at a friends house that night) and ate a great Italian meal by myself while waiting for him to finish up with work and then hung out for a bit before going to bed early.  

Tuesday I get up early as my friend goes to work, grab my bags and go to a coffeee shop for breakfast and to get myself together. Go drop off bags at new hotel and take the train up to Central Park and go the the Met Museum for a good 4 -5 hours. Saw a painting i researched and did a paper on in college for the first time in person and it was an overall amazing day. Walked around downtown again looking at the architecture, went into the Plaza Hotel and drank a beer in their bar, which was incredible, real high society type deal (and where Home Alone 2 was) and met up with my friend who had just gotten into town - back to Billymarks for pre-show and then went to bed early that night.

Wednesday i did breakfast and then my cousin called me and was in town, treated me to an amazing korean BBQ lunch and we ran around town to a few different spots he knew before the show and went out late that night (was an awesome show that evening).

Thursday we woke up late, went and got breakfast and some drinks, I walked around central park for a couple hours and then went to Coney Island and saw Greensky and Marco Benevento, which was amazing. Got some Nathan's hot dogs as we were leaving and headed back downtown to rest.

Friday i needed a break, my feat were dead, so i sort of chilled for the most part, caught up on emails and a bit of work and waited for my friends / brother to get in town (air travel was insane that day) and met up with them pre-show. Went in right at doors and settled in. My friends birthday was that day so we went out that night kind of late at some karaoke bar that someone had booked a private room at. 

Saturday i went to the phan art thing around noon, went and met up with some people and ate some dumplings for the first time ever which was pretty awesome. The lady kept having to show me how to do it but it was a lot of fun. A friend of ours was having a small pre-show get together in long island city at his art / woodworking studio. Lots of cool artwork in this area and then we headed back out to town and did the post show at some bar off of 33rd right near the hotel till about three.

Sunday i woke up, somehow found my friend a ticket for the final show for face (got incredibly lucky after stubhub hosed him on his ticket) and essentially just packed and got my life together after 10 days in NYC. Headed in at doors, were on the floor that night, post show i went home, finished packing, showered, went to bar until about 3:00 - took uber to airport - had flight home at 6:00 a.m., passed out on flight woke up back home as we were landing and showed my face at the office. Been recovering ever since.

That is my 10 day itinerary, central park, the MET, other half brewing co., stature of liberty and the architecture in downtown are all amazing - i'll post pictures later if i can. Ate some great food and saw a bunch of great music at the same time so all in all it was a pretty amazing / once in lifetime type trip for me.

Ohhhhh mercy. That was an insanely fun trip. I'm still paying for it a week later, but totally worth it.

Drove into NYC on Friday afternoon. Everyone I talked to ahead of time assured me I was crazy for attempting this. I shrugged them off, having lived in or near Los Angeles for most of my life and dealt with atrocious traffic on a regular basis. NYC was far worse than L.A. I rocked it though and got my car to the hotel in one piece. Never doing that again though. Crossing "Driving in NYC" off the list and moving on.

I need not even review the shows at this point. If you like Phish, you've seen the setlists and read the reviews, and I can assure you that any superlatives contained within are accurate.

As per usual, exploring NYC was gloriously rewarding. Finally got to check out Coney Island and Brighton Beach. My first stop for food here sadly dictated what would be eaten the rest of the trip. I ordered a two-kebab plate assuming I would get two skewers and maybe a little rice and salad on the side. The language barrier prevailed and I was presented with two monstrous plates of food, and the leftovers lasted me the rest of the trip. So any further NYC dining experiences I was looking forward to were quickly nixed.

What really made the trip special was the chance to visit with friends, both old and new. I got to see friends I've known since high school that now live in NYC as well friends from California that flew out for the shows. And as you've seen from the above post, I had the pleasure of hanging out with moon and company before the final show. Good times!

On a final note, there is one aspect of the shows that I have yet to see be reviewed, even though they were an integral part of the experience: the donuts. I'm not much of a donut fan, but figured if the opportunity to sample them should present itself, it could only enhance the experience. At first I was a little disappointed to learn that the flavor for night 11 was lemon with poppy seeds. That didn't sound very appealing, although I was intrigued with the song possibilities. Personally I was really hoping for Baby Lemonade but obviously that didn't happen. I know a lot of people were calling for Lemon Song but I didn't foresee that happening. For one thing, to play the song accurately, very fast and choppy bass notes are required. And that just isn't Mike's style at all. But I digest...

By the time I got checked in on Friday, there was little time to do anything else, so I headed over to the venue when the doors opened so I could spend a little extra time soaking in the vibe. As it turns out I got there early enough to be handed a donut by the nice folks at Federal Donuts. Much to my surprise the lemon donut was quite tasty.

The next morning I wake up to find out the flavor is the highly anticipated Boston Cream donut. Now we're talking. Love me some Cream, and I unapologetically feel Boston's first album is a masterpiece, even if everything they put out after that ventures into Steve Perry post-Journey solo territory. In fact, the first time I saw Phish in '94 was in a small gym on the UC Santa Barbara campus. Towards the end of the show, Trey broke out an acoustic guitar, Page played an upright bass, Mike played banjo and Fishman was on washboard. They did a bluegrass rendition of Foreplay/Long Time that was pretty mind-blowing and I wouldn't have minded seeing that again. In lieu of that, the Boston Cream medley did make all the hairs on my arms stand on end.

I did not get to the arena in time to score a Boston Cream donut. However one of my neighbors did, but he didn't want it and offered it to me. And it was gooooooood.

I don't remember the official title of the Night 13 donut, but it didn't look very good, I got to the venue much too late to get one, and none of my neighbors had unwanted extras. So that's that.

Yeah I'll update those one day