This is what I ate tonight.

Yancy and I finally made it to a little German biergarten in the village called Lederhosen Muchen. We both had the two wurst plate with one brat (all but gone in the picture, it was delicious) and one currywurst, which is exactly what it sounds like and is similarly yummy. The potato sides were awesome as well as the vegetables and bread. It was all good. This is probably my favorite resturaunt I've been to yet in New York. If you've never eaten German food, eat it there for your first time.

A weekend in Boston, MA

So, kind of on a whim, Yancy and I bought tickets on the Chinatown Bus from New York to Boston. His friend Stephanie was gonna be up there and it being one of his last weekends in New York... I figured I was down for anything he wanted to do.

So we took an early train down to Chinatown on Sunday morning on boarded the "Lucky Star" (pronounced Rucky Stah) bus. The bus trip was pretty uneventful. Yancy slept and I sat, bitter that I couldn't fall sleep. But we did see a very cool cemetery on the outskirts of Long Island with the Manhattan skyscraper skyline behind it. It looked amazing. Neither of us could get our cameras in time, but we're going out there this weekend to get the picture cause wow...talk about imagery.

We actually showed up early and went to sacrament meeting in our shorts and t-shirts. Yes, I felt like a heathen. I also had my pillow. Kinda tempting to have a pillow with you in sacrament meeting. We spent the afternoon getting settled in the house we were staying at. Some girlfriends of Scott's (Yancy and I's friend in Boston) were gone for the weekend and told him we could stay there while they were gone. They were the coolest girls we'd never met. They left us cake and brownies, the key to a car, and their awesome dog, Cleo. We left them flowers when we left. Anyway, we spent most of Sunday hanging out with my friend Kristi from High School who lived just down the street. Then Scott made Thai food for all of us. Then I fell asleep.

The next morning Yancy and I walked the Freedom Trail (a red line around Boston that leads to significant historical sites having to do with the American revolution). It was really cool. Then, on Jason's advice we visited the Berklee College of Music and his favorite pizzaria across the street therefrom. Finally, we attended a live camera rehearsal for the 4th of July Boston Pops concert featuring Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. It was really cool. The sound was amazing (outdoors) and I visited the sound guy just tell him how great he was. He seemed appreciative. The Pops were of course pretty amazing themselves, and hanging out with all the new friends we'd made just made for an awesome Independence Eve. Hours later Yancy and I were on a bus back to New York, completely exhausted. I had no problems sleeping on the way back, incedently. Oh, also we never ended up hanging out with Yancy's friend Stephanie cause she was like an hour away from Boston. Oh well, we had fun anyway.

And... pictures.

Betty #6...

So today I did a possibly foolish thing. I purchased a guitar, the electric kind. And an amp. And I don't actually have a job at the moment. And I live in New York.

I defend myself thus:
1. It was a very good deal.
2. She was beautiful. She really called to me like a siren, I'm dead serious. I was powerless to deny her.
3. It's my first Fender, my first Strat... It's really time I became a man.
4. No interest credit line on new bank account.
5. It's an American Strat, which means it's like an investment, and it's value should appreciate over time.
6. We're in love and to Hell with the world if they can't be happy for us.
7. Look at it...go ahead. Look.

A word to describe my kickdrum sound...

The one my boss used was "inspiring". I suppose I'm flattered.

That ballet gave me the willis.

Tonight Yancy and I took some dates to the beloved romantic ballet "Giselle" at the New York Metropolitan Opera House. It was awesome. Not Opera, but pretty awesome nonetheless. The story's a little hokey, but the music, costumes, music, sets, music, lighting, music, and dancing was all amazing. And the music was incredible. Even student tickets were kinda pricey, but it was totally worth it. Here's some pictures. The lighting made it hard to not get blurry results, but whatever.

Yes, the picture is from kneeshorts.com (I think I swore once I'd never visit that website)

So I saw a girl on the subway today. She was very pretty and was dressed modestly. Very modestly in fact. I noticed her shorts came down all the way to the middle of her kneecaps. This is certainly not normal, I thought to myself. Perhaps in Provo, but not on the Subway in New York. This girl had to be Mormon. She had the look and mannerisms that would normally tip me off as to someones' membership in our often lame secret culture.

So I leaned forward and asked her if she was Mormon. She looked surprised and said, "no." I believe I stepped back into my standing space explaining, "Sorry, just thought you looked Mormon." She got a look on her face that kinda looked like she was offended. But on second thought it was probably just bewilderment. I guess it was the first time she'd been told she looks like a religion. She got off the express at 72nd St. And I continued riding it to 96th St. Which meant unless she got off at one of the 2 stops between, I'd board the same car right accross from me and we'd be in the same car again.

Sure enough, she was, and I said "hi" and explained that I didn't mean to offend her and assured her I meant it as a compliment to her modesty. She'd obviously had some time to recoup and explained that she was just caught off guard and hoped I wasn't offended that she looked offended. She naturally asked if I was Mormon and I told her I was. She got kind of red in the face, so I apologized for my forwardness in asking such a random question of a total stranger. Then we got to know each other a bit and then she offered, "I don't really know anything about Mormons. Is there a website?" Great huh? So I told her about Mormon.org and that we went to church on Sundays at 2:50pm in the building across from the Opera House with the big, gold angel on a spire. She said she knew the building and had always wondered what it was, but was to lazy to try and read the writing on the building. I got off the train and I felt like we were friends. It would be really awesome if she showed up at church.

Some things girls should know...

This post probably seems a little random. But Yancy and I were talking about President Packer's whole "Dating vs. Hanging Out" thing. We decided one reason guys are sometimes averted to traditional dating in the Mormon community is a series of small, misunderstandings between the sexes. By all means, I welcome a "Some Things Guys Should Know" response and I assure you I will be grateful for any insider secrets on the mysterious creatures we call "girls". The list is the collective thoughts of a handful of us men.

1. A date doesn't mean we want to marry you. Chill out and have fun. This is just a chance to get to know you. We might not like you once we do, so enjoy the attention whilst it lasts. The bottom line is, just relax and enjoy yourself. It's really not a big deal, so don't freak.

2. It's hard for many of us to ask girls out, especially when we find them attractive. It takes major confidence to pull it off, so cut us a little slack. I'm not saying, "Say yes" if you really don't want to go. But I am saying that if you'd like to but can't go (i.e. have a conflict in schedule) make sure you actually say you'd like to another time. If we don't hear that, we'll probably never ask you again. Our confidence can be pretty fragile.

3. Never give a guy the "Deer in the Headlights" look when he's asking you out. Even if it takes you off guard, have the decency to smile till his invitation is out. It makes us a little more comfortable in what can be a very uncomfortable situation. If a guy ever abandons ship in the middle of asking you out, you might want to think of how you were facially responding to his attempt. You might have scared him out of it.

The worlds best bbq and jazz in one weekend...

Who could ask for more? Really? Friday night we all went to a "drive in" movie (aka, sponsored by dodge) in Rockafeller Plaza. They showed "Kettle of Fish", a romantic comedy that did well at the Tribecca Film Festival. It made me think twice about the prestige I afforded the festival, cause said movie sucked. It started to rain so we all left. The director was there and most everybody left. At least he could comfort himself by claiming it was the rain and not his film. We went to eat at some random deli and one in our party was too accomodating to a drunk mexican with a guitar and got bit. That's why you don't get friendly with insane drunk people... you'll get a love bite. At midnight we went to the famous "Blue Note" jazz club in Greenwich Village. Not because we expected the best jazz in the world, but because it was only 8 bucks as opposed to the usual $25. The band was actually very good. Particularly the drummer, guitarist, and saxophonist. They were called the square egg and played a rock kind of feel to R&B vocals, all in a free-form jazz setting. They were very entertaining. And I had a good burger...don't ask what I paid for it.

On Saturday we slept in (on account of the late jazz). When Yancy and I got up, we went grocery shopping and then headed downtown for the Big Apple BBQ Block Party. Basically they roped off a park and a few blocks and invited the best BBQ places in the country to set up a trailer/tent and sell their wares. I had some ribs from a place in NY that were nothing special and an awesome pulled-pork sandwich from a place in Mississippi. Was there ever any doubt that the Southerners were gonna be better at it? We also got free hats with pig ears and wore them around the East Village for the rest of the day.

We were pretty pooped by the end of the day and passed on clubbing in favor of a movie. On Sunday I went to church, then we were intending to go to Harlem Meer for Jazz in Central Park, but discovered it wasn't happening and so I climed up a hill and slept for about an hour in a really nice, secluded spot. Central Park is really wonderful. Seth and I went to a cool dessert night in midtown with some girls he'd met at church. And finally, we headed up to the American Legion Post in Harlem for more free jazz (a hammond organ jam, actually). We quickly encountered a less-than friendly bar-tender who insisted we buy a drink or get out, so we left... I'd have been happy to buy a drink if it weren't Sunday. I was a little bummed I had to leave though cause the friend who invited me there was playing the organ and we left after one song. I figure I'll go next week sometime and explain it to him. Just so I don't seem rude. And now...pictures. (Courtesy of Yancy)

Flyin' Solo...

So I did my first session all by myself yestereday. Granted, it was just recording the exact same thing I'd done twice before with Anthony, but it was still cool. Just me, an analog tape machine, a big SSL9000 J-Series console, and a drummer. I felt pretty cool and important.

Anthony was feeling sick and asked if I minded running it alone? I was really surprised that he trusted me that much. But I told him it wouldn't be a problem. Then after not sleeping very well the night before for nerves' sake... I went to work and the session went off without a hitch. At least not any hitch I couldn't handle. I even fixed something that Anthony told me later had been bugging him and got big kudos. He bragged about my solo session today to the owner. It was cool.

Hell, I still love you New York.

Some pictures, taken at random times, yet unposted.

Even Old New York was once New Amsterdam...

I had a late night session last night recording the piano-man. It was cool. So today I had no work. I woke up late and then skulked around "Old New York" and Amsterdam. I wandered around the East Village, Seaport Village, Chinatown, Little Italy and Soho. It was fun. Here's some pictures.