It’s Saturday morning and I’m the lobby of the JFK airport Doubletree hotel. Too many beers (in today’s case at Coney Island) very often ends up with me passing out, sleeping off my buzz, then scampering for Dr. Pepper and Advil and not getting to sleep ’til right before sunrise. Oh yes, I have seen this movie before. I get on the plane back to Austin at 6:00am, so I probably won’t sleep til liftoff.
So here are some of the gory details from the big week in NYC. The Pretenders show at Roseland was AWES! (every other song, for two full hours, was a classic…unlike their March SXSW showcase, which was a little skimpy on the hits. ). I had forgotten how good Paella tasted (need to learn how to make that). My newfound fascination with Broadway musicals may lead some to think I am, in fact, a gay man (in reality, it was Lance Bass who came out this week). Wicked was just that, and Hairspray was truly amazing, although seemingly less subversive than the Waters film.
On a completely different front, I got to hop by the Brooklyn offices of my business partners Jeff and Bryan Eisenberg. The Eisenbrothers really are going to take over the world…and hopefully let me ride on their high-thinking, best-selling coattails (yuk yuk).
Had to ditch the Hold Steady show, which was a bummer, as they are one of my favorite “new” bands. Oddly, the last time I saw them was in a 3,000 seater in Brooklyn, their home turf. This time it was a free show at Castle Clinton, at the most southern tip of Manhattan, pain in the ass to get to from my hotel in Times Square…by the time I subwayed it there for tickets, none were left.
The really weirdo surreal subtext of this trip is my story in this week’s Austin Chronicle. I still haven’t held the paper in my hands, which is itself strange. I’ve gotten emails from so many people I haven’t seen or heard from in ages. Hell, Michael Corcoran AND Andy Langer reached out to commend me on the piece…which kinda gave me a woodrow, considering the source(s).
Today it’s back to Austin. Back Room grand finale is tonight (talk about surreal). Been downloading new tuneage for Chillville tomorrow morning. I have a cool guest lined up for the show, but given recent history I don’t want to hex it. Fire up the delay box for this one.
