I never knew turning thirty could be so much fun!
Here's how our weekend looked:
Rockwood Music Hall
After sampling a few of Spitzer's Corner's 35+ draft ales, we hopped over a couple of blocks to this famous live music venue in New York's Lower East Side. With a rotating line up of acts each night across two stages, the guy on the door could not tell us what type of music we could expect to hear, but rather than take $15 cover from each of us, suggested we head into the smaller "Stage 1" bar where entrance was free. Taking stools at the bar and a couple of Brooklyn Lagers, we were treated to six wildly different bands over six amazing hours with each one leaving us applauding loudly and buying up copies of the CD's being sold at the front of the stage. As the night drew on, the bar became rammed with bodies being drawn in off the street by the incredible music booming out from within.
Highlights included a guy, with an acoustic guitar and a loop recorder pedal, creating haunting harmonies that left us all hushed in awe; a six piece ragtime band from Georgia blowing dirty brass rhythms and taking us back to the roaring twenties of Dixieland America; and a heavily bearded banjo player who looped vocals, distorted picking and banjo body drumming to electrify the room with a pounding, inventive sound like nothing I've ever heard - Seasick Steve meets Led Zeppelin meets White Stripes meets Hot Chip, and at one point, a big ol' Indian Bangra shindig:
Enigma: The Show
Having seen three Accomplice shows so far, we would definitely call ourselves fans of this new genre best described as "interactive street theatre". The latest incarnation to hit the New York City streets, "Enigma" presents audiences with a missing person mystery and sends them off into the leafy Brooklyn Heights with a map and a few initial clues. Along the way, various madcap characters leap out of the otherwise placid neighbourhood and draw you in to small improvised performances which eventually lead to the next clue. Part walking tour, part treasure hunt, the show cleverly integrates elements of local history into its plot and character back-stories, giving a fourth dimension to what could have easily become another copycat venture. The actors' performances were faultless and the characters made so much larger than life that bystanders were either left stunned and open mouthed or, like a group of young children standing nearby at one point, actually ending up being drawn into the imaginary world, wanting to follow us and understand what on earth was going on. It is the closest to being in a movie you're ever likely to get.
Point Break Live!
'I...am...an F-B-I agent!' The one line that everyone in the crammed room was waiting for. For those that have not seen the 1991 surfing, parachuting, gun-toting, bank-robbing cult-classic action thriller, this will mean nothing to you. But for those who have revelled in Keanu Reeves's unforgettable one liners, developed soft man-crushes on Patrick Swayze's enigmatic surf guru charm or fisted the air at the Ex-Presidents' "stick-it-to-the-man" mantra, this show is for you. To the joyous roar of the crowd, mimicking all of the film's most memorable lines, a small cast re-create a stripped down version of the movie, live on stage, with Keanu's character, Johnny Utah, being played by a member of the audience aided by cue cards and a stunt double. To summarise: It was absolutely crazy! - almost like a bunch of school boys re-enacting their favourite movie in the playground, only with a larger budget and the help surfboards, basic scenery, paddling pools, toy guns, rubber masks and blood pouches - lots of blood pouches.
With us and the rest of the audience cloaked in disposable ponchos from our "PBL survival kits", the first surf scene got underway with stage hands spraying us all with super-soaker water guns, the poor soul playing Utah decked in an ill fitting wetsuit and laying on a polystyrene surfboard, and a dude in the background playing Hawaii Five-O on an electric guitar. The audience was later "robbed" by the Ex-presidents who charged through the crowd with toy machine guns, forcing several people (including me) onto the floor and demanding they be handed the "cash" from our survival kits. Another scene saw Bodhi and Utah come spinning across the stage lying on their bellies over a couple of stools on wheels, for the famous parachute jump, having leapt from an office desk with a fan clipped to one end (ie. the plane) and rucksacks on their backs. Shootouts involved drawn out battles of grown men making "UH-UH-UH-UH-UH-UH!" gun noises across the entire room, and ended in blood pouches being slammed against foreheads, sending great arcs of crimson dye spraying out over the poncho clad crowd. I still have "blood" on my new trainers today! Thoroughly entertaining, painfully funny and again, absolutely crazy! If you're in NY or LA check it out when it next plays - but make sure you've seen the movie first!
Not wanting to get water or blood on my camera, it stayed firmly inside my rucksack. Click here for a trailer to give you a good idea of the mayhem on stage.
Street Art Walking Tour
The virtually deserted streets of Bushwick become a weekend stomping ground for street art lovers from around the world. On every block, across shutters, fences, walls and doors, internationally renowned artists have given new life to this once drab and lifeless neighbourhood with everything from giant murals to tiny paintings just a few inches wide. Despite the heat, the tour was fast paced, owing to the sheer volume of pieces in this relatively small area - we even ran into a small group of artists taking a break from a large design they were spreading across the front of a motor mechanic's workshop - all perfectly legally and with permission, I must add (no really, this type of work is seen as art here, and having a beautiful design across your property is something to be proud of). Other than several famous American names, we saw work by British, Mexican, Puerto-Rican, German, Italian, Irish and French artisits, to name just a few. Bushwick is now awash with spray paintings, wheatpastings, hand drawn designs and sculptures - a reinvention of the urban landscape. Living here, you could not help but be inspired and uplifted by the talent and creativity around you. Whether it's cute manga-style characters, life-like portraits, zaney imaginary worlds or vibrant slogans paying homage to this great city, New York has it all. Check out streetartwalk.com.
And finally...
BIRTHDAY CAKE!
Point Break Live!
'I...am...an F-B-I agent!' The one line that everyone in the crammed room was waiting for. For those that have not seen the 1991 surfing, parachuting, gun-toting, bank-robbing cult-classic action thriller, this will mean nothing to you. But for those who have revelled in Keanu Reeves's unforgettable one liners, developed soft man-crushes on Patrick Swayze's enigmatic surf guru charm or fisted the air at the Ex-Presidents' "stick-it-to-the-man" mantra, this show is for you. To the joyous roar of the crowd, mimicking all of the film's most memorable lines, a small cast re-create a stripped down version of the movie, live on stage, with Keanu's character, Johnny Utah, being played by a member of the audience aided by cue cards and a stunt double. To summarise: It was absolutely crazy! - almost like a bunch of school boys re-enacting their favourite movie in the playground, only with a larger budget and the help surfboards, basic scenery, paddling pools, toy guns, rubber masks and blood pouches - lots of blood pouches.
With us and the rest of the audience cloaked in disposable ponchos from our "PBL survival kits", the first surf scene got underway with stage hands spraying us all with super-soaker water guns, the poor soul playing Utah decked in an ill fitting wetsuit and laying on a polystyrene surfboard, and a dude in the background playing Hawaii Five-O on an electric guitar. The audience was later "robbed" by the Ex-presidents who charged through the crowd with toy machine guns, forcing several people (including me) onto the floor and demanding they be handed the "cash" from our survival kits. Another scene saw Bodhi and Utah come spinning across the stage lying on their bellies over a couple of stools on wheels, for the famous parachute jump, having leapt from an office desk with a fan clipped to one end (ie. the plane) and rucksacks on their backs. Shootouts involved drawn out battles of grown men making "UH-UH-UH-UH-UH-UH!" gun noises across the entire room, and ended in blood pouches being slammed against foreheads, sending great arcs of crimson dye spraying out over the poncho clad crowd. I still have "blood" on my new trainers today! Thoroughly entertaining, painfully funny and again, absolutely crazy! If you're in NY or LA check it out when it next plays - but make sure you've seen the movie first!
Not wanting to get water or blood on my camera, it stayed firmly inside my rucksack. Click here for a trailer to give you a good idea of the mayhem on stage.
Street Art Walking Tour
The virtually deserted streets of Bushwick become a weekend stomping ground for street art lovers from around the world. On every block, across shutters, fences, walls and doors, internationally renowned artists have given new life to this once drab and lifeless neighbourhood with everything from giant murals to tiny paintings just a few inches wide. Despite the heat, the tour was fast paced, owing to the sheer volume of pieces in this relatively small area - we even ran into a small group of artists taking a break from a large design they were spreading across the front of a motor mechanic's workshop - all perfectly legally and with permission, I must add (no really, this type of work is seen as art here, and having a beautiful design across your property is something to be proud of). Other than several famous American names, we saw work by British, Mexican, Puerto-Rican, German, Italian, Irish and French artisits, to name just a few. Bushwick is now awash with spray paintings, wheatpastings, hand drawn designs and sculptures - a reinvention of the urban landscape. Living here, you could not help but be inspired and uplifted by the talent and creativity around you. Whether it's cute manga-style characters, life-like portraits, zaney imaginary worlds or vibrant slogans paying homage to this great city, New York has it all. Check out streetartwalk.com.
And finally...
BIRTHDAY CAKE!
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| Rosie creates a Betty Crocker masterpiece that actually has more E-numbers inside than sprinkles on top |
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