PS 1- Warm Up

We trekked out to Long Island City on Saturday for Katy's going away party at PS1. It's been several years since I've been to PS1, and my first to the Warm Up parties... I had avoided them due to the rumors of the hour long lines outside to get in, but Katy informed me that they weren't like that anymore. But wow- what a scene! The courtyard was full of giant rubber balls that people were either sitting on or they were being bounced around on top of the nets, from one part of the courtyard to another, in the true PS1 interactive courtyard installation manner. The steps up to the museum were jammed with people, and the music was pumping. We could barely hear each other talk- it was basically like going to an outdoor club during the afternoon.

P and I headed inside to rest our throats but we were equally impressed and disappointed with the artwork, but perhaps it was just way too crowded to enjoy. Everybody seemed to be in their most "effortlessly" hip outfit, strutting around and checking each other out, which was actually kind of like an exhibition in itself!

This highly anticipated outdoor series celebrates its twelfth year of exposing audiences to the best in experimental music and live bands, performances, and DJs. Coinciding with the annual Young Architects Program, this year's Warm Up will merge with a new courtyard installation, Pole Dance, created by the architectural firm Solid Objectives - Idenburg Liu (SO - IL).

This year for the first time, Warm Up will feature interdisciplinary collaborations between musicians and artists. On our particular visit, Body & Pole, a series of performances created by choreographer Kyra Johannesen was performed in the courtyard, further expanding the interactive qualities presented in the architectural installation Pole Dance.

Lincoln Center Green Roof

 Wow, what a great space! Was able to stroll around Diller and Scofidio's new contoured grass-covered roof at Lincoln Center today after watching a complimentary open rehearsal of tonight's Mostly Mozart rehearsal at Avery Fisher Hall, courtesy of a temporary partnership between Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

From the Lincoln Center website:
Joining landscape and architecture, the gently contoured Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Lawn is an elevated, 7,203 square foot expanse of public green that slopes gracefully toward Paul Milstein Pool and Terrace. Technically described as a hyperbolic paraboloid, Illumination Lawn brings another dimension of visual interest to Hearst Plaza—its texture contrasting with the surrounding materials, and its unexpected shape setting off the linear quality of the buildings around it. Designed to provide a tranquil, verdant oasis for students, artists, and visitors, the green serves as a dynamic gathering space, as well as the roof of a pavilion housing a new destination restaurant, a film center, and offices. 

The geometry of the roof is derived using straight structural elements that are slightly rotated relative to one another. The result is an undulating rectangular surface with two high corners diagonally opposed from one another and two low corners on the opposite diagonal corners. The slopes range from flat to 18 degrees.

The grass... is held in place by a combination of geoweb and grass roots. The geoweb is a perforated polyethylene cellular mat that is stretched across the roof surface and attached to the building perimeter with stainless steel tendons. The geoweb cells are filled with growing media and then planted with sod. The roots from the sod will, over time, grow to interlock with the geoweb. The growing media varies across the surface of the roof but averages about 9" across the entire roof. It was selected for its resiliency to foot traffic and the fact that it is greener than other varieties during its dormant season.

Groovy. Too bad it was too hot and muggy to stand outside for more than 3 minutes. 
I'll have to come back when it's a bit cooler. Of course, that would mean I'm going to have to go north of 14th Street, ha ha.

25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert

Wow! Hey blog! It's me, and it's been, oh, about 10 months!!
Well, besides wedding planning and getting married and honeymooning and home remodeling and working, my life hasn't been too eventful... all that will be documented soon, just trying to relax a bit after the last year of craziness!

But last night, I had such a great experience at MSG I have to do a little writing!

Seeing Simon and Garfunkel live was one of the most emotional moments I have ever experienced- as P said, listening to them was like listening to hymns... At the first clear unmistakable bars of Sounds of Silence, a knot formed in my throat, which never went away until long after their standing ovation was over. Tears streamed down my face but I didn't care. I loved them as a kid, and back then, they were old. It's been almost two decades since buying my first Simon & Garfunkel tape, and here I was, in Madison Square Garden, seeing them with my own eyes, and now they were even older.

And Stevie Wonder, wow, what a musician. When he broke down during his tribute to Michael Jackson, everyone's heart seemed to break. The impressive lineup of special guests just didn't stop- Tom Hanks with the introduction, James Taylor, Sting, Smokey Robinson, BB King, John Fogerty, and of course The Boss himself... it was pretty unbelievable. With our (behind the stage) view of the teleprompter, it was like being in a huge karaoke bar- a 6+ hour session of tributes and hits to rock & roll's most famous stars by rock & roll's most famous stars. It was a roller coaster of a ride from the first few mellow sets to cheering and crying S&G, boogieing with Stevie Wonder to to dancing in our streets with Bruce.

I normally don't like going to these huge scale, impersonal big box concerts, waiting hours in line, etc. but I realized that if we wanted to see such an impressive lineup, this was the only way to do it. And I'm so glad we did it. The free tickets didn't hurt either... :)

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert: Set List

Jerry Lee Lewis :
“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On”

Crosby, Stills and Nash:
“Woodstock”
“Marrakech Express”
“Almost Cut My Hair”

Bonnie Raitt with David Crosby and Graham Nash:
“Love Has No Pride”

Bonnie Raitt and Crosby, Stills and Nash:
“Midnight Rider”

Jackson Browne with Crosby, Stills and Nash:
“The Pretender”

James Taylor with David Crosby and Graham Nash:
“Mexico”

Crosby, Stills and Nash with James Taylor:
“Love the One You’re With”

Crosby, Stills and Nash:
“Rock and Roll Woman”

Crosby, Stills and Nash with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and James Taylor:
“Teach Your Children”

Paul Simon:
“Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”
“Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”
“You Can Call Me Al”

Dion DiMucci with Paul Simon:
“The Wanderer”

Paul Simon with David Crosby and Graham Nash:
“Here Comes the Sun”

Paul Simon:
“Late in the Evening”

Little Anthony and the Imperials:
“Two People in the World”

Simon and Garfunkel: “The Sounds of Silence”
“Mrs. Robinson”/”Not Fade Away”
“The Boxer”
“Bridge Over Troubled Water”
“Cecilia”

Stevie Wonder: “Blowin’ in the Wind”
“Uptight (Everything’s Alright)”
“I Was Made To Love You”
“For Once in My Life”
“Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”
“Boogie On Reggae Woman”

Smokey Robinson with Stevie Wonder:
“The Tracks of My Tears”

John Legend with Stevie Wonder:
“Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology)”

Stevie Wonder with John Legend:
“The Way You Make Me Feel”

B.B. King with Stevie Wonder:
“The Thrill Is Gone”

Stevie Wonder:
“Living for the City”

Stevie Wonder and Sting:
“Higher Ground”/”Roxanne”

Stevie Wonder with Jeff Beck:
“Superstition”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“10th Avenue Freeze-Out”

Sam Moore with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“Hold On I’m Comin’”
“Soul Man”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with Tom Morello:
“The Ghost of Tom Joad”

John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“Fortunate Son”
“Proud Mary”
“Oh. Pretty Woman”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“Jungleland”

Darlene Love with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“A Fine, Fine Boy”
“Da Doo Ron Ron”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with Tom Morello:
“London Calling”
“Badlands”

Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“You May Be Right”
“Only the Good Die Young”
“New York State of Mind”
“Born To Run”

Darlene Love, John Fogerty, Tom Morello, Billy Joel, Jackson Browne, Peter Wolf and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher”

comprehensive story here

Japanese Music

For some reason, I have seen more Japanese music in the last 2 weeks than I did in the last year, LIVING in Japan!
I suppose the exposure and finding out about schedules is much easier when you can navigate the websites in English or whatever (and not living in the Japanese countryside helps), but anyway...

So a couple weeks ago, Paul and I went to the New York-Tokyo Music Festival in Central Park. The festival represent two extremes, as in New York & Tokyo, East & West, underground & mainstream, cool & cute, futurism & traditionalism.... Upper East riches & downtown rugrats?

The Upper East was oddly milling with skateboarders and hip hop fans, and the normally quiet park was throbbing from the deep booming reverberations emanating from the park...

It was a great lineup, with the impressive Kenny Muhammed (The Human Orchestra) as MC/performer- it was freaking amazing to watch all those sounds only coming out of his mouth! Yes, indeed, he is the human beatbox!!!


Also playing were DJ Red Alert, Pharoahe Monche, Collie Buddz from New York, and from Japan.... the surprisingly awesome and fun TERIYAKI BOYZ & DJ Uppercut. Teriyaki Boyz were like young cute colorful versions of the Beastie Boys- they had such fresh raw energy... What a shame they didn't seem to get the support that they deserved from the (young-ish) crowd...


As the excitement was building up, Kenny Muhammed announced that headlining MF Doom was not going to make it because he was in the hospital. The audience booed (and were immediately admonished for "disrespectin'"), but with Doom's mysterious personality, most of us were just trying to figure out whether we were getting tricked or not.

When his equally respectable last-minute replacement, Rakim, showed up onstage, Paul practically fainted from excitement!! Again, unfortunately, there was only a small percentage of the crowd who really could appreciate his talent, which was a shame. For him, it was like me getting to watch The Beatles live, so I could imagine what a treat it was for him...


Then, last night, we rocked out to DJ Krush on his first stop of his American DVD Release tour. We picked up a copy of the DVD along with an autographed photo! The Highline Ballroom is a fantastic intimate venue! As usual, watching Krush was an amazing experience. I think I was still smiling this morning when I woke up!

Summer Sonic Music Festival, Osaka

The wonderful thing about travelling is that you can be SO spontaneous!

I met some cool JETs who told me on Friday night that they were heading to Osaka for a big music festival on Saturday morning so we decided to join since, among those playing was DJ Shadow, who is totally, like, my favorite dj ever, and I also got to see Massive Attack, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, and Secret Machines.... It was a 2 day concert with a pretty sweet (if not eclectic) lineup including: Tool, Linkin Park, Mum, We Are Scientists, Nelly Furtado, Puffy Amiyumi, Metallica, Hoobastank, Scritti Politti, Daft Punk, Flaming Lips, The Cardigans, Phonix, and Devendra Banhart... Anyway, I was happy to see DJ Shadow play but I was floored by Muse. They are my new favorite band.

Made it back to the train station for the last train back to Kyoto (phew!). Otherwise, we would've had to wait until 5am for the first train out!

Group Photo: Colleen & Lliam (S.Africa), Eric (US), Adam (UK), Jason (US), me, and Ilona (UK)