Eight Track Flashback

The post I didn't get to on Tuesday...

So, this weekend. I was in New York exhausting the stockpile of tickets I buy way too far in advance in order to have something to look forward to (seriously, I'm considering opera tickets for my birthday, a full seven months away), and although all events were great in and of themselves, there was something about all of them that just made me a little sad. There was so much ending there and not nearly enough beginning! But I'll accentuate the positive for ya...

First off, it was an utterly gorgeous NYC fall weekend, there is no better weather for outdoor concerts and baseball games than what we got. Saturday, we got to Central Park, not a cloud in the sky, cute little kids and dogs frolicking all over the place, vendors selling pictures of NewYork on exactly this sort of day, even the horse poo wasn't that bad... and head to our event at Rumsey Playfield where we encounter The Media. Seriously! We were there for the Mary Chapin Carpenter show, which was a small part of a Country Home magazine event called Be Creative New York. As if NY isn't already! Anyway, "country" home my ass... this was possibly the only thing that has ever made me think maybe David Brooks has a point, it was bobo home. They had all these little tents set up and goodie bags for those of us who bought our tickets in advance, and samples of all this stuff they sell at Whole Foods or make at Morton's, and the large majority of the attendees were in advertising or journalists or related to the magazine in some way, and the few who weren't were probably shopping for the Westport/Bridgehampton weekend home. It was kind of bizarre. Nice to get tips on how to set a shabby chic table and shop for vintage, but still, bizarre. Luckily, there were a few other MCC folk there who weren't spending the entire time shopping for $700 cowboy boots (no shit!).

Chapin played all her hits, as she wasn't promoting an album, and had interesting, slightly different arrangements for all of them. My Heaven from the latest album is growing on me, reminder number 1 that I'm old, and she closed with Down at the Twist and Shout, which is the first country song I ever admitted to liking.

Saturday night, in order to save my own sanity and not become another tired driver stat on Sunday, my brother and I visited our Grandma, and then went back to his place to watch the Rangers, enjoy some tasty chinese take-away and a few Rocks.

This is getting seriously long, but Sunday was another perfect day, this one was to be spent in ballparks... at Shea for the Mets last game of the season (and possibly Mike Piazza's last in orange and blue), and at the Richmond County park for Across the Narrows. Shea was awesome, to sum it up, the Piazza tribute made me want to cry and the $2 hot dogs were fab. It was the end of the most satisfying Mets season in a long while. The future's so bright, we've gotta wear shades.

Across the Narrows hit me hard. Definitely Maybe is old. Liam and Noel are pretty damn old. Evan Dando is SURELY old. This makes me feel old. It especially makes me feel old that I can't flippin' stand to be in the middle of the crowd when I survived the front row at a Sick of it All show a mere eight years ago. I can't even take hipster brit-pop fans now? wtf. That aside, they rocked my hipster brit-pop fan's heart. Don't Go Away would've been nice to hear, as would more from Heathen Chemistry or Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, but whatever... I got a t-shirt and some happy singalongs and let myself go a little crazy to their version of My Generation, so all in all, a great day. Plus Jet nearly blew out my eardrums. It was sweeet.

And, for future reference, events to look forward to: Audioslave in Atlantic City November 4, Rangers/Caps in NY November 26, Rangers/Caps in DC December 3, and finally, opening day at Mountain Creek, TBD. More importantly, dinner in twenty... yum.