Tag: NYC

Nothing More to C.

Uh-oh. My subway line of choice — the A/C — is taken out by a control room fire…and the C may be down for several years(!) Looks like I’ll be whispering of escapades on the D train for some time to come. Update: The MTA revises their prognosis…looks like it’ll take months to fix, not years. Update 2: Make that days — the C is already up and running again…false alarm.

The Fil-A-gonath!

Long have I desired to look upon upon the waffle fries of old. Just before the holidays, I’d heard from a few Carolinians in and about the city that, yes, there was in fact one Chick-Fil-A in Gotham. And, sure enough, this morning I found it, in NYU’s Weinstein Hall at the northeast corner of Washington Square Park. (Alas, it was closed until Tuesday, when the new NYU term starts — and it looks like there may be intermittent security attempting to keep displaced non-NYU Southerners like me away from the quality chicken products.)

Welcome to the Occupation.

So, in their first stop since Dubya Day, REM played the Garden last night. A good show, and they played my favorites from the new album (“Boy in the Well,” “High-Speed Train,” “The Outsiders”) But there was obviously a very strange and subdued vibe to the proceedings. Angela McCluskey, the opening act, struck an appropriately funereal tone with a swelling rendition of The The’s “Love is Stronger than Death.” And Stipe, for his part, seemed as staggered as most of the crowd, and barely spoke at all — (not that it much mattered…85% of the people there seemed to be waiting for “Losing My Religion” the whole time anyway.) All in all, I enjoyed last year’s stop more, but obviously those were happier times for both the band and the nation. Setlist below:

REM at MSG, W2+1:

1. It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine.) [Just in case you haven’t been keeping up with current events…]
2. Begin the Begin
3. So Fast, So Numb
4. Animal
5. Boy in the Well “This song takes place in Tennessee.”
6. Welcome to the Occupation
7.The Outsiders
8. Get Up!
9. High-Speed Train
10. Cuyahoga “This song takes place in Ohio.” [BOO.]
11. Sweetness Follows
12. The One I Love
13. I Wanted to Be Wrong “This is our State of the Union.”
14. Imitation of Life “This was a #1 single in Japan.”
15. Final Straw
16. Losing My Religion “I don’t know what to say tonight, so I’ve tried to say as little as I could and let the songs speak for themselves. There’s something about a well-constructed pop song…”
17. Walk Unafraid
18. Life and How to Live It
E1. What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
E2. Drive
E3. Leaving New York “This song takes place in NYC.”
E4. Electrolite “This song takes place in LA.”
E5. Permanent Vacation (w/ Steve Wynn) “We’re REM, and this is what we do.”
E6. I’m Gonna DJ
E7. Man on the Moon “This song belongs to you.”

Keep the trains! My Kingdom for a Horse!

“Simple, plain Clarence! I do love thee so, That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven.” It appears that, while Ian McKellen has been traipsing about Middle Earth, a hobbit-sized thespian has captured one of his signature roles: The Station Agent‘s Peter Dinklage talks about his forthcoming Richard III at the Public Theater. I’d very much like to check this out.

Nickel and Dimed.

By way of a friend of mine in the program, the NY Post has discovered that apparently the GOP delegates are terrible tippers. “‘I wouldn’t call them bad tippers — I’d call them non-tippers!,’ said Thomas Potesak, a concierge at the Sheraton Manhattan…’It’s like they’re completely unfamiliar with the concept of tipping.’…Abraham Bolzman of the New York Hilton was also perplexed…’They’re always saying ‘God bless you.’ I guess I’m used to something more tangible.'”

The Green Party.

Of course, there are some New Yorkers happy to see the GOP here, namely the finance types. “[T]he firms, which lean Republican in their political giving, are eager to show their gratitude to President Bush and GOP lawmakers for enacting legislation providing billions of dollars in tax and other benefits to their industry and for Bush’s pledge to seek even deeper tax cuts.” Yeah, I bet they are. Well, at least the GOP does in fact support their corporate “values”…In fact, Wall Street may be one of the few groups of self-professed Republicans around the country that aren’t being lied to constantly by the Bushies.

So far, so good.

Aside from one burning float (and poor mask-wearing Rosario Dawson), the first protests against the GOP Invasion Force were both plentiful and peaceful. (I thought the Billionaires for Bush bit was a particularly nice flourish.) I just hope the rest of the protesters this week are better than I am at restraining their anger and contempt over the 9/11 graverobbing about to ensue.