Sundown in Central Park...

On Saturday we met up with Ed and Nicola for some lunch in the Meatpacking District and a nice stroll along the High Line. It was a beautiful and oddly warm (nearly 20 degrees!?!) afternoon, so after we said cheerio to them, Abi and I went for a little walk in Central Park.

It was looking lovely and autumnal still, a lot more of the gorgeous red and golden leaves had fallen off the branches and had formed a crunchy blanket on the ground, but there were still some trees with all their firey leaves still on.

Even as the sun went down, it still felt lovely and warm, the perfect temperature for mooching about in. As we walked to the edge of the park, after the sun had gone down, we walked passed the ice rink and suddenly felt very Christmassy...

Now that Thanksgiving is over all the shops are going full steam ahead into Christmas mode. Walking around all the shops at the top of 5th Avenue was lovely, and seeing all the huge wreaths hanging in the Plaza windows got me feeling incredibly excited about Christmas! 

I love New York at Christmas time!

Black Friday Madness!

We decided not to brave the shops yesterday - instead we stayed in, watched the Top Gear marathon on BBC America and ate turkey sandwiches... much safer!

(Our Thanksgiving party was a success! I'm trying to get some pictures to be able to show you, so I'll put some up once I get them).

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've just watched the parade on telly and seen Father Christmas looking very jolly, so we're feeling VERY excited about Christmas now. 

The stuffing's made, the pigs are wrapped in their blankets and the turkey's nearly ready to go in, ready for tonight's feasts. Although, it feels little strange getting ready to cook all this food and looking out the window seeing the queue outside the church - all those people waiting to get their hot meals. We donated some money while we were shopping for vegetables last night, so as well as feeding the people coming round tonight we'll have fed 25 hungry New Yorkers today too.

It's a bit funny, although I don't really know what Thanksgiving is about, and it's a very American holiday, it's hard not to get all whipped up in the excitement, and it's odd being away from home for it too (which makes no sense, because we wouldn't be celebrating at home anyway, but) knowing that this is such a family holiday make me miss home even more - I wish you were all here having this turkey with us.

I hope you all have a lovely day today, I'll be thinking of you and missing you all.

3rd Ward (Part 2)...

Yesterday was the second part of my screen printing course at 3rd Ward. It was another fantastic afternoon, and this time we got to get our hands dirty and do some actual printing!

The 3 hours absolutely flew by as we practiced making prints and then did some for real. We got to choose from a load of different colours, print on different surfaces, some people had materials to print on, some people had t-shirts, I opted for some special card instead.

The prints came out pretty good, and I was able to play with some different papers and different coloured inks and stuff. It was actually a bit harder than I thought - it's not as simple as running the squeegee over the screen and that's it. I think it'll take a few times to get the hang of if, but I definitely want to keep doing it.

We got to keep our screens and the squeegee, so I can do some more prints once I get some inks and stuff, but I'd really love to make some new screens with new designs and have a play with some other papers, colours, materials...

After the class finished I had a tour round 3rd Ward to see what the other work spaces were like. It's a really amazing place, the wood working space is amazing and the metal work area's really exciting, the photography studios are HUGE and there's some really beautiful, calm areas to work on your Mac too.

I think I'll be looking into some other classes to do there, I was just looking on their website and there's an electric guitar restoration class and a beekeeping class! I'd love to be an urban beekeeper!

For now though, I'm going to work on perfecting my screen printing! It's so much fun.

Thanks Giving Scotch Eggs!

On Sunday night our kitchen was a hive of culinary activity!

We were preparing for a Thanks Giving Pot Luck that was happening at work on Monday lunchtime. The idea was that everyone would bring in a dish that they'd made and there'd be a big lunch buffet - so Abi and I made some Great British delicacies with a twist (well, Abi's had a twist).

I made some little sage and onion sausage rolls and Abi made some magnificent Thanks Giving Scotch Eggs! Turkey sausage meat with sage, onion and bacon in!

Here's the chef's preparation stages! Some rolling in flour there, before dipping in the egg and then rolling in breadcrumbs...

A quick fry in the pan and then into the oven...

...and then the taste test!
Mmmm Mmmm Mmmmmmmm!

It's just a shame we had to share them with work really.

Opening Soo...

I wonder if they ran out of paint or just got distracted?

Mighty Balls...

The Union Square Christmas (or 'Holiday') Market has just opened up again, which means two things...

1. It's nearly Christmas, and

2. We're going to have yummy lunches for the rest of the year!

There are all the usual stalls from previous years, including the delicious crepe stall, but this year there's a new addition to the culinary line-up...

They make the most deeeeeeeeeelicious gourmet meatballs, with an array of different sauces and cheeses to top them off with. You can either get them as sliders, so one meatball in a bun, or in a hero which is 3-4 meatballs in a roll, topped off with a sauce of your choice and some cheese.

I had beef balls with 'not your average brown sauce' on top, which was their take on the swedish meatball sauce, and Abi had pork balls with a jalapeno sauce. They were amazing!

I'm pretty certain that by Christmas we will have made our way through all the different combinations there are (apart from the veggie balls!) at least twice!

All I Need Is You...

Just round the corner from the Love Letter To Brooklyn was another ESPO piece.

Every Street Carries Us...

Yesterday morning I went on a little mission to take some photos for work, and on my way to take these photos I passed that car park in Brooklyn that I posted about a few weeks ago - the car park with all the writing all over it.

Well I walked all the way round it this time and noticed running along the top of the other side was the line 'Every street carries us home'.

Abi managed to find out who the artist was who's done the lettering. It's by a brilliant street artist called ESPO (Steven Powers) and the piece is called 'A Love Letter To Brooklyn'. When they were painting it, they'd call out to people passing by and ask them what to write, so the building is full of local stories and quotes. 

It's brilliant.

Noel Gallagher...

Last night I went to see Noel Gallagher & His High Flying Birds play at the Beacon Theater.

I wasn't sure that that many people would be bothered about seeing him, as Oasis never really managed to break America, but it was a sold out show and he'd added another date the next day that was almost sold out too!

The theater is BEAUTIFUL inside, absolutely amazingly kept, or rennovated, it's incredibly grand and ornate looking...

 I'm not sure how many people it holds, but I know that there's no way I'd ever get to see Noel Gallagher play in such a 'small' venue back at home - so it was a brilliant and rare opportunity to see him play there.

He opened with a couple of Oasis songs and then played the majority of his new album, dropping in the occassional Oasis song here and there, but making them sound a little different, so they suited his new sound more and went with his new material a bit better.

It became apparent pretty quickly that a LOT of the audience were Brits, and it didn't take long for them to start chanting like at all the other Oasis gigs we've been too. It seemed a bit wrong having people chanting No-el in such a fancy venue though.

The absolutely highlight of the whole night was the encore, when they played Little By Little and the whole audience were on their feet with their hands in the air singing at the top of their lungs, and then he closed the night with this...

I had a bit of a lump in my throat for the last two songs... it was amazing and brought back a lot of memories of singing along with Tom at the Lancaster Cricket ground, and listening to What's The Story Morning Glory on the way to school. It's funny what music can do isn't it - where it can take you and what memories it can bring back.

It was a blummin' great way to end this run of pretty amazing gigs I've been able to see recently - I feel VERY lucky to be able to see all these incredible bands play in such incredible venues.

I wonder who'll be next?

3rd Ward (Part 1)...

Yesterday afternoon I went along to the first part of my screen printing course at 3rd Ward in Brooklyn.

3rd Ward is a big creative hub in a converted warehouse in a really industrial part of Brooklyn. They've got all sorts of workshops there, from cycle repair to woodwork, from jewellery making to screenprinting. You can take lessons in all the different things, or become a member and use their facilities, or if you're a freelancer you can rent a desk and computer so you have a base to work at.

It's a fantastic place, you walk passed these industrial factory type buildings, builders yards and garages and wonder if you're in the right place - but then you walk into the building and it's brilliant and super professional looking.

There were lots of people buzzing round, all doing different things and as I walked to the 'classroom' that my class was in I was a jewellery making studio and a business management class taking place.

The class was great too, very informative - and really geared towards people who want to do screen printing on a good level, but at home rather than in an expensive print shop. So hopefully after the class I'll be able to get all the stuff I need and start producing some screen prints of my own at home.

The time flew by, as there was so much to take in, but at the end of it all I came away with my screen all prepped and ready to start making prints with next week. I don't want to show you the designs just yet, so here's a little teaser...

 I can't wait to get back there next week and learn to make some prints!

Foo Fighters in The Garden...

On Sunday night I notched up my 17th Foo Fighters gig, this time they were playing at Madison Square Garden!!!

I decided to get there earlier this time and watch the support bands (I've been missing out on the support acts at gigs recently) - and I'm glad I did, Joy Formidable, a new band from Wales, were absolutely brilliant. The other band supporting were Social Distortion, they got a HUGE cheer, I think there were lots of old punk fans in the crowd. I'd heard a few of their songs, but mainly from film soundtracks. They finished with a punk version of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire, and then, it was time for the Foos!

An email went out a couple of days before the gig saying that everything had been pushed forward an hour, so the doors opened an hour earlier, so the Foos could come on stage an hour earlier. The reason was their set list was going to be 3 HOURS LONG!!!

The set list was pretty similar to when we saw them to other month, but they change the way the end their songs all the time, so it still felt different - and the sell out crowd at Madison Square Garden were far more rowdy than in New Jersey, even up in the seats I was in, people were really going for it! They guy in front of me must have gone home with a sore neck because he was headbanging for 80% of the gig.


For the encore, Dave came and did some songs on his own on his big podium at the back of the arena, so everyone at the back could get a better look at him...

and then they were joined on stage by a very special guest... Joan Jett!!!!She got a HUGE roar from the crowd and they did this version of Bad Reputation ...

It was an absolutely amazing (and pretty exhausting) night, 3 hours of singing along to all their best songs.

It was bloody fantastic!

Sunday Sunset...

Shepherd's delight!

The Art of Flight...

A few weeks ago I saw a load of posters for a film called The Art of Flight - it's a snowboarding film that's been doing a world tour in little cinemas. Unfortunately I missed the New York showing when it was on, but I was so inspired by the trailer for it, I ordered the DVD.

We watched the DVD a little while ago, and it was an absolutely stunning film - amazingly shot and with a brilliant soundtrack. It was incredible.

So I was VERY excited when I saw that it was going to be shown in Brooklyn as part of the New York Snow Film Festival. On Thursday night we went along to the Nitehawk cinema in Williamsburg to see the film on the big screen.

The Nitehawk cinema's a funny little place, with a restaurant and bar downstairs and another bar upstairs with tables and chairs set out facing the big wall above the stairs. It turns out that the bar IS the cinema, and they project the films on the big screen, and you sit having a drink watching the film. It all felt very Brooklyny - it was great.

So I walked in and handed my ticket receipt to the barman, who looked it up on his computer, pulled a puzzled frowny face, turned back to me and said "These tickets were for Tuesday. It's Thursday today..."

I'd got the bloody dates wrong! So we didn't get to see the film afterall, but he did give me a free drink and offered me tickets to the film that they were showing that night... but we decided to give it a miss instead.

However, from this annoying event, came a lovely evening. Abi and I went and had a very relaxing and romantic meal at Aqua Santa near Bedford Avenue, sitting in their greenhousey bit, with all the twinkly fairly lights around us. It was so peaceful and calm and the food was delicious and we were able to just sit and chat and eat and forget about work and my inability to read dates right.

So, it started as a rubbish evening, but ended up being a perfect one.

Here's the trailer for Art of Flight by they way...

It's beautifully shot isn't it?!

Cake, Cake Cake...

I felt like a very lucky boy on Wednesday, I had not one but three lots of birthday cake!

We had some mini cupcakes at work...

(They were super mini, so we each had three)

Then after finally getting out of work Abi and I went for some deeeeeelicious fish and chips with a cup of tea and a scotch egg at the Chip Shop in Brooklyn, and had a special Crumbs Birthday cupcake for pudding...

 ... and then we had some of my very special birthday cake from Mops and Pops that had made it safe and sound all the way from Bettys!

Thank you for all your birthday messages and cards and presents, it made it a very special day and made me feel not so far away from home - it always feels a bit funny to be away from home for my birthday.

It was so lovely to be able to open my presents and cards in the morning and then finish the day with a very special, very British Birthday tea followed by some very special Birthday cakes. I'm a VERY lucky boy!

Crime Watch...

Hip Hop & Hacidics...

New York Marathon 2011...

This morning we walked down to Bedford Avenue to cheer on the amazing people running the New York marathon...

The atmosphere was incredible, it was a bit overwhelming really, as we walked up to Bedford we could hear the MC rapping and calling out people's names over the music, and then The Black Eyed Peas 'I Gotta Feeling' starting playing and everyone was dancing and cheering and the runners were all cheering too...

People were standing on the side lines giving all the runners high fives, people were cheering and whooping, we were clapping and cheering everyone along as they worked their way through Brooklyn.

We'd been watching the professionals running on telly earlier in the morning and it was amazing to see how fast they were going and the concentration on their faces, but seeing the 'normal' people running, the people who don't do marathons for a living, the people who are running for a cause, running to raise money for something they believe in, seeing them was far more exilerating to watch.

There were all sorts of people, all shapes and sizes, all ages, all nationalities, here's some of the ones that stood out while we clapped and cheered...

It felt like there were far more people cheering on the runners this year than a couple of years ago, it's a great spot to watch too, I think it's around the half way mark(ish) and the Brooklyn rappers made it feel like a big party.

I have an ENORMOUS amount of respect for people who run marathons, and watching them all made me feel incredibly proud of Mr. Thomas Langridge for running the Great North Run... who knows perhaps we'll be cheering you on in the New York marathon one year (or if you give me a few years I'll run it with you?!).

It was a very inspiring (and pretty emotional) way to start our Sunday.

Autumn on Myrtle...

It turns out we don't have to go all the way to Central Park to see some beautiful colours on the trees. The trees on Myrtle were looking pretty wonderful this morning...

Ben's Back!

To celebrate Ben's return to New York we had a belated Halloween dressing up session on his first day in the studio...

Complete with brown wigs and full sleeve tattoos!

It'll be great to have Ben back in the studio.

Musical Chairs...

Feisty...

Last night I went to go and see Feist play at the Opera House at BAM...



It's the first time I'd seen a gig at BAM, it's an amazing building on the outside, and a beautiful venue inside, it's an amazing old Opera House, and an amazing place to see someone like Feist perform.

When I ordered the tickets I didn't know which seats I'd get as they were part of an album bundle from her website, but when I got there and picked up the tickets I found out they were on the front row!!!

When I arrived the support act were still on, they were called The Happiness Project (it was the side project of Feist's new guitarist). From what I could gather, they had interviewed their neighbours (over a long period of time, and in all the place they'd lived) and asked them about happiness. They then played sections of the interview, making melodies from the people's voice, or looping certain sections and playing really beautiful instrumental music over the top. It was really interesting and the music was beautiful - so I think I might look them up and find out a bit more about them.

Then it was Feist's turn...

She started with some songs off her new album, which sounded even better live...

It's always a bit funny going to see a gig and having to sit down. Being on the front row made it good though, but after a couple of songs Feist invited everyone to come and stand down at the front. I think it annoyed all the security guards but everyone else loved it!

It totally changed the atmosphere from being all quite and fairly reserved, to being a proper gig with people dancing around and enjoying the music...

Feist was great at interacting with the crowd and telling stories and working in jokes into her songs, it was great. She was also spotting out people in the crowd, like a man standing behind me who was wearing full skeleton face paint (for the Day of the Dead I suppose!). So she invited him up on stage to dance while she played My Moon My Man...

It turned out that he was a pretty good dancer (he probably practices while listening to Lady GaGa, if you know what I mean!), and stole the show during that song.

The band were absolutely brilliant too, the guitarist and keyboard playing switched round instruments quite a lot, and they changed up a lot of her songs, making some of the more poppy ones sound a little slower to fit in with the sound of her new songs. 

Her backing singers were also really good (a wee bit odd, standing there expressionless for the most part, wearing what looked like monks cloaks with bells on...?). For the encore Feist came back on stage just with her backing singers and a guitar...
 

Then Feist invited everyone to get up on stage for the last couple of songs!

It was great to see Feist play live again, and hopefully she'll play in New York again soon - but knowing that she doesn't play here that much made it even more special... it was such a different gig and Feist and her band sounded absolutely amazing.