New York City September 29-30, 2009

It’s been a few years since I’ve been out walking around the city at two or three in the morning. Monday night we hit the Comedy Cellar and saw a few comedians. Dave Atell was very funny, he was the main gig. We seem to find ourselves out late here every night!

We were bumming around the lower east side and stopped in the Pink Pony for a Mocha and a Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey sandwich – it was wonderfully ironic.

We traveled to Midtown to Red Rocket Tattoo and I got inked. I choose Betty Rose at Red Rocket because she’s a Heeb, a woman and from Brooklyn. Those were important reasons for me. I wanted to start my piece here in New York City, and over the next year, or so, finish it in different places around the world (mostly Europe).

We saw, “HAIR” last night. We had front row seats at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre and the show was unreal. The cast messed with me a little bit - the performance was very “interactive”. There was full nudity and marijuana smoking (I’m not kidding) – some of the older audience members were visibly uncomfortable. I got a kick out of watching them, considering the storyline of HAIR.

Anything above 28th Street, for me, is somewhat undesirable. Times Square is a joke and disturbing to me. However, we couldn’t avoid the tourist trap today and went to the AMC Empire 25 theaters near Times Square. There were floor after floor of theaters (going up). We saw, “Inglorious Basterds” in theater 21. We really enjoyed the film. It’s a great, “what if” kind of flick.

We had dinner at Umbertos Clam House (my third time – always a winner), in the heart of Little Italy - it was super-delish! I was looking forward to taking Jeanne there (Summer had been there before). I won’t lie, we drank two bottles of fine Italian wine and consumed some unbelievably good seafood.

Tonight, we took a train to Battery Park and sat at the tip of Manhattan and stared at the Statue of Liberty. After we were finished staring at the Lady, we stopped in at the 55 Bar and listened to some live Jazz.

We’re back at the apartment now, and ready to do it again tomorrow!

The Pink Pony, Lower East Side - Ludlow Street, NYC.
Summer's Converse, Jean's shoe and these cool table bases that are in a lot of the cafes in clubs here in NYC.
The Pink Pony: Summer through the looking glass!
The Pink Pony Crew!
Quinn in excruating pain administered by Ms. Betty Rose at Red Rocket Tattoo in Midtown.