Where the wild things are

On Sunday night I went with the lovely Laura, who’s visiting, to see Monsters of Folk play at the Olympia-esque Beacon Theatre on the upper west side.

For the uninitiated: Monsters are a supergroup compromising of Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James (or Yim Yames, depending on his mood), and M. Ward of She & Him. I’m a massive fan of Bright Eyes but have never seen them perform, so I was majorly excited.

Their voices contrasted and combined beautifully – Conor Oberst’s ragged howl, Yim Yames’s high, rich, Bon Iver-style voice, and M. Ward’s silky growl. They wore matching suits (not really what you think of when you think of either ‘folk’ or ‘monsters’) and performed mostly from their Monsters of Folk album, opening with the explosive (and very Bright Eyes-esque) ‘Say Please.’ Here are a few of my fave cuts from the album.

Say Please

Baby Boomer

Man Named Truth

The Sandman, the Brakeman and Me

But of course, each member also has a hell of a back catalogue to draw on, so they had no problem filling out the set. One highlight for me was when Mike and Conor performed ‘We Are Nowhere and It’s Now’, my favourite Bright Eyes song ever, which I wasn’t expecting them to sing because the recorded version features vocals by Emmylou Harris, and they had no girl to fill in her part. But they did it anyway, a lo-fi version with two guitars and Conor’s voice. Only gorgeous.

Oh, and having long been looking for the perfect poster for my room, I got it at the gig. It’s of a monster. A monster of indeterminate gender. Wearing a beret and smoking a pipe. Astride the Brooklyn Bridge. YES.

It’s official

Every time I move to an American city, the local team wins the World Series.

Who wants me next?

Broadway close up

Above: the amazing Debra Monk and David Hyde Pierce singing ‘Sara Lee’ at the Kaufman Centre’s John Kander tribute last Monday. I was in the fourth row. (In case you’re wondering, DHP is singing about his love for a woman named Sara Lee, who turns out to be a manufacturer of delish baked goods.)

It was a great show, including renditions of Kander & Ebb classics from shows like Cabaret, Steel Pier and Curtains and an onstage Q&A with Kander himself, all capped off with an awesome unplugged performance of ‘New York New York’ by Karen Ziemba. You can see more photos at the Kaufman Centre’s Flickr photostream.

I got treated to more Kander & Ebb goodness on Thursday when me and my parents (who were visiting for the week – good times!) went to see Chicago on Broadway. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen for sheer razzle dazzle.

Brooklyn beats

Back in the good old days when I had a bike, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was my nemesis. Every time I tried to get to Williamsburg, the BQE would get in the way and I’d have to abandon my carefully plotted route and improvise (something I’m not good at when it comes to directions).

Well, now mad genius Sufjan Stevens has written an ode to the BQE. An entire album’s worth of instrumentals. It’s streaming at the Rough Trade website and you can also download one of the tracks.

Sufjan is a frustrating musician to be into – he’s so creative and weird, and you have to kind of admire the bizarre projects he takes on. But on the other hand, he hasn’t released a ‘proper’ album since 2005’s Illinois. Since then there’s been (the admittedly excellent) The Avalanche, made up of outtakes from Illinois; Songs for Christmas; Run Rabbit Run, an orchestral rehash of Enjoy Your Rabbit; and now The BQE. Okay, Sufjan, I know you’ll probably never finish the Fifty States Project, but is it too much to ask for a new collection of non-seasonal songs on which you, y’know, sing?!

Also this week, I got to sample a tiny part of the monster festival that is CMJ. Saw New Zealand kids Surf City perform in a rather cool venue (I think it was an old school) in the east village. A fun night, apart from my brazen decision to walk home via the Williamsburg Bridge, and getting totally disoriented in Brooklyn. Sigh.

Whyyy?!

Gorgeous bike GONE ALREADY. Some thoughts …

• I should possibly have kept it in my bedroom at all times (but it was very heavy to haul up).
• If I was gonna keep it outside, I should possibly have used a lock worth more than $12.
• It was so handy for nipping around Brooklyn. I got to know the place quite well.
• At least I got to cycle across the Williamsburg Bridge that one time.
• If I’m not gonna get any bike exercise all winter, and if I keep up my current mac & cheese intake, I’m going to turn into quite the fatty fat.

I’ll make you a mixtape if you’re not careful

It seems all the cool kids (like these guys) are putting playlists on their blogs, so I will too.

Death Cab For Cutie – Cath …

The Dandy Warhols – We Used to Be Friends

Passion Pit – Sleepyhead

George Harrison – Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp

Aimee Mann – I’ve Had It

David Byrne & The Dirty Projectors – Knotty Pine

Phoenix – Fences

The Black Ghosts – Full Moon

Talking Heads – Psycho Killer

Broken Social Scene – Lover’s Spit

Quite the pickle

Generally, I love eating out in New York. But I do not understand the American obsession with the pickle. Anywhere you order a sandwich or a burger, you invariably get a completely unasked-for, unwanted, gross-looking pickle on the side. Why?!

(By the way: Barnes & Noble 5th Ave stock the above book. The filthy beggars.)

The High Line

We’d only been here a week when the High Line Park opened on Manhattan’s west side, and it’s taken me all of three months to go back for a proper gawk.

The website has tons of info (and what a nice website it is too; lovely use of Rockwell!) but, in a nutshell, the High Line is a former elevated freight railway that’s been converted into a public park. And it’s rather gorgeous. It’s going for, I think, an architectural elegance combined with the feeling of an abandoned railroad – there’s lots of wild-looking, un-park-like foliage growing.

There’s lovely views of the Hudson and, from a clever theatre-like seating structure, a great view down the length of 10th Ave. There’s tons of seating everywhere and, very importantly, coffee and cupcake kiosks. A great way to spend a lazy afternoon.

Burns for Mayor

Some people really don’t want Bloomberg returned …

Fall

The fall came in fast. One day, I could walk to work in a t-shirt and needed shades; the next, I was wearing three layers and still shivering.

Part of the problem is I came over in July with nothing but summerwear. So now I’m planning a spree in Dov McGov’s branch of American Apparel for some snuggly autumnal clothes.

Don’t worry; I plan to wear pants with that hoodie.