Mumford and Sons

Tuesday, November 16th 2010:

Yet another great concert! minus the behemoth that pretty much annoyed the hell out of Brian and Cliff whom we treated tickets to the show $$$ (yup, not face value this time). Terminal 5 certainly over sells their tickets because that place was beyond packed, with absolutely no room to move or even to retreat to the back - every inch was filled with a body. If possible, avoid going there or at least get there early and secure a spot on the balcony...

wee burgers!

In no rush from our dinner stop at Lincoln Park, we did miss King Charles, and when they came out on stage later, I wished we did get a chance to witness, let alone hear, their set...(see photo below). Cadillac Sky definitely warmed the audience up for a great night of folk music.

Good thing I was armed with my concert boots, for there was no way we were going to get close to the stage, and as usual, we attract the tallest people in the venue, so lots of searching for the best view, usually shifting back and forth to see the stage through people's heads.

Cadillac Sky with Marcus Mumford on drums

tidbit of "Sigh No More" opener

1. Sigh No More

2. Roll Away Your Stone

3. Winter Winds

4. White Blank Page

5. Below My Feet

6. Timshel

7. Gave You All

8. Little Lion Man

the behemoth is the large guy jumping up and down with dark brown curly hair around the :20s mark

9. Lover of the Light

10. Thistle & Weeds

11. Broken Crown

12. Awake My Soul

13. Feel the Tide

14. Dust Bowl

Mumford & Sons joined by Cadillac Sky

Mumford & Sons joined by Cadillac Sky AND King Charles

Encore:

15. Sister

16. Colab (s) with KC and CS

17. The Cave

I've never really been great with reviews, so here are links for more thoughts, photos and videos:

brooklyn vegan

nytimes

Happy Halloween!

"What defines a nerd? Committing to an awesome Halloween costume
with your best friend? Is that what nerds do?" - Abed, Community

Saturday, October 30, 2010

It's that time of year again!

Distracted by moving and settling in, we really gave no thought to what our Halloween costumes would be this year...but I refused to go this Halloween without one. Knowing that the day would soon be upon us, I did some brainstorming and came up with these ideas:

Tron
Hit Girl / Kick-Ass
Community mascots

But with less than a week before Halloween, there was no time to make these costumes work (and we both aren't in the best of shapes for those body-hugging ones - damn, those Tron costumes would have been pretty awesome...)

Tuesday night (10/26) rolls around, and as I'm searching movies we've seen this year, I stumble upon Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.



Seeing as how colorful the characters were in the movie, I thought, yes! we could pull this off...so after lots of online searching and express shipping, we turn into

Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers







(it wasn't until after committing to the costume that I found out that there were a zillion Ramona Flowers at the NY Comic Con not too long ago...oh well)

Brian would have been spot on with his clothes if it weren't for my quick buying skills (or lack thereof) on Amazon, not realizing until it was too late that the green Smashing Pumpkins t-shirt automatically got shipped to our old address in West Hartford - DOH!!!! With his Death Cab for Cutie tee as a backup, Brian and I fruitlessly strolled around St. Marks on Friday (10/29) to hopefully find something close. I was saddened to see that one of the larger vintage stores I went to just a mere 9-10 years earlier was no longer there, replaced by "retail space available" and/or a new restaurant (hard to tell exactly where it used to be with all the new changes). I myself forewent with the green gloves (even though I saw them at St. Mark's) and opted for the blue ones I bought just minutes before.

to be continued...

Phoenix at MSG - Inaugural concert!

Wednesday, October 20th 2010:

After the craziness of moving and trying to settle down, we had such a blast at our very first concert as NYC area residents. And I bought the tickets just one week earlier on ticketmaster, at face value no less :)


a quick bite to eat at Lenny's


we missed the Wavves :( but we caught the Dirty Projectors - I liked just a couple of their songs but bought a t-shirt anyways since I thought the design was pretty cool.


a huge sheet was released and floated above the pit area before the band came out



1. Lisztomania

2. Lasso 

3. Long Distance Call

4. Fences

5. Girlfriend 

6. Armistice 

7. North 

8. Love Like a Sunset 

9. Run Run Run

10. Rally 

11. Rome 

12. Funky Squaredance



We certainly were in for a special treat, for none other than Daft Punk joins them on stage during the encore!!! wow, that was beyond cool...

Encore:
13. Honeymoon 

14. La Fille aux cheveux clairs 
(Johnny Hallyday cover)

Encore 2:
15. If I Ever Feel Better 

16. Around the World / Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger 
(with Daft Punk)



Close Encounters of the Third Kind interlude...




17. 1901 
(with Daft Punk)








Here's a much better write-up and POV of the show...with videos!

National Dance Day is here!

and we're down the shore!

National Dance Day Routine

The Ultimate "Scenic" Route

Green chile, jalapenos, fritos and "the best part of the trip"

2010 Burton US Open Rail Jam

Yikes! Scary collision at :40s mark between Johnny "Lazz" Lazzareschi and Jamie Anderson. Jamie remained motionless for a few minutes having suffered a concussion, but fortunately she eventually got up and greeted everyone with smiles. Apparently, Johnny tried avoiding Brandon Reis, who was riding towards him, and then crashed into Jamie soon afterwards.

Helmets folks, helmets...

Happy Holidays!

Happy Halloween! Part 2

"I hate when women use Halloween as an excuse to dress like sluts." - Britta, Community

This night could have been tons of fun - Halloween on a Saturday night!! Practically everyone in costume - awesome! BUT we could have done without the pouring rain during the parade, that plus the throngs of people... Probably could have done without the 5+ miles of walking either... [insert map, if available] but on the bright side, at least it wasn't cold!



click here for slideshow

Happy Halloween! Part 1

"Guys, we can’t give up on Halloween! It’s a magical night where women dress slutty and drink too much. Where we can hide our bodies in bulky costumes. We’ve got to keep trying!"
- Frank, 30 Rock

Being one of our favorite movies we've seen this year (it really exceeded my expectations), we decided to be characters from the movie:





Of course, as it always ends up, not so many people could appreciate our costumes or how they were related since many hadn't seen the movie. Brian was just another cowboy, and I was just another scary clown. But other than the restraints my costume provided, I really enjoyed being a clown zombie.

I've grown to love the task of making our own costumes for Halloween, even with our troublesome sewing machine (if ours actually worked properly, it would save me SO much time...plus the outfits wouldn't have questionable seams that may rip open at any moment). And this year I made my shirt and pants. Brian made the yellow "buttons", and all the other accessories you could buy at a store or online. Brian had to convince me to use the fabric (called Monkey Love Dots) I eventually used for the shirt, and I'm glad I did, since it worked out so well.

My makeup was better the first night, as I had more time to work on it, but I wore the teeth more on the second night...



Friday, October 30th 2009:

Whalers, Punishers, Young Guns, Blazing Paddles, Screaming Monkies, HS United, Fantasy Footballers, & Friends,

You are invited to a Halloween Party on Friday, October 30th, 6:30 PM at Woods Manor.

Of course, the usual activities will be available: beer pong, darts, foosball, air hockey, pool, flip cup, etc. However, as this is a Halloween party, the following is also in order:

1) COSTUME CONTEST

Awards will be given out for:
- Scariest
- Funniest
- Prettiest
- Most Original

2) TRICK OR TREAT FEAR FACTOR

How many worms can you eat with no hands in 60 seconds? Can you identify the mystery food? Will you eat… that?

Plus more!

What to bring:
- Costume (mandatory)
- BYOB – Of course, I’ll also have many complimentary Halloween brews available.
- A Fear Factor food (optional) if you’d like to help out


click here for slideshow

Happy Halloween! [the movies]

Friday, October 30th 2009:






Saturday, October 31st 2009:

After the Sag, we visit the Merers

A rather smooth ride down, with just some traffic in the NYC area and a stopover at the folks' place to drop off and eat some of our delicious leftovers, we relax and chitchat with Randy and Ellen over some lamb kabobs and Randy's homemade tzatziki sauce, which I liked and was alone in that sentiment. We relaxed outside under the pergola (yes, never thought I would ever use, let alone write that word) until twilight and headed inside to watch some Meet Dave with Randy's folks, while waiting for Dude, Where's My Car to come on. The twins had been snoozing away, an hour or so before we got there, so we didn't have a chance to see them that night (and apparently we also just missed Aaron, who was on his way up from North Carolina). We too ended up going to bed not too long after Dude started since we had an 8:30am leave time for Saurin's wedding...

Baby baby, looks like it's gonna hail

Happy Father's Day!

Surprise brunch at The Village, an art exhibit, and then a stroll around the West Village and Washington Square Park, ending at Lenny's before heading back to CT



This kid got a little more than he bargained for, being light enough to get a boost from the fountain.

Luke's Baptism

How to celebrate in southern CT: wear a typical southern CT Sunday attire (note: I am out of my element here, as there were numerous wardrobe changes that everyone had input on), tasty catering, including lechon + mang tomas, pigs in a blanket hors d'oerves among others, yummy cake with sweet frosting and...a moonwalk
(requirements per person include height: less than 60", weight: less than 270lbs (?! hmm...) )

Dinner with the Boyz (aka crashing Saurin's Bachelor Dinner)

Saturday, June 13th 2009: Dinner at Blue Smoke







Rhapsody in 'Cue - yum!