nyc 2011

Wednesday
-Mental soundtrack ---> Matt & Kim
-After all these years JetBlue is still my favorite domestic airline.
-Was all prepared to be annoyed at the massive Palo Alto High School contingent on my plane, but then the 16-year-old next to me conversed intelligently with me about Christian Marclay, David Johansen, and Howard Zinn.  My headphones still came in handy though.
-Next time remind me to just spring for a cab instead of enduring SuperShuttle.
-That first glimpse of the city skyline is still always, always magical.
-My stylish little room and exceedingly comfortable bunk bed at the fabulous Ace Hotel.
-Parsley and anchovy toasts + crab and coconut soup + salty buttery potato rolls + an Abita Light at The John Dory.
-A Chimay and some early St. Patty's Day cheer at One and One.

Thursday
-Mental soundtrack ---> Prince
-A peanut butter-glazed blackberry jelly doughnut at Doughnut Plant.
-Lower East Side history and a glorious new stained glass window by Kiki Smith at the beautifully-restored Eldridge Street Synagogue.
-Josh Tonsfeldt at Simon Preston Gallery: spraypainted spiderwebs and faded photographs, low-key but surprisingly emotional.
-Fakes and more fakes along a riotous Canal Street.
-Saucy unmentionables at Kiki de Montparnasse.
-Karlheinz Weinberger at the Swiss Institute: mesmerizing photographs of teenagers in 1960s Zurich.
-Minted snap peas with sea salt + a rosemary white bean spread sandwich with swiss chard and tomato jam + a Kronenbourg at The Smile.
-Dairy deliciousness at Murray's Cheese Shop.
-Sunshine, old railroad tracks, and a creme brulee doughnut on the High Line.
-Oysters with dill and vinegar + cod a la plancha with caperberries and paprika + spotted dick with Maker's Mark + a lovely French red + lots of laughter with Rachel and Julia at The Breslin.
-Three women in a photo booth.  Twelve pictures total.
-Seriously freestyle comedy at variety show Muffins in the Window.
-The Empire State Building lit up green for St. Patrick's Day.
-Drunk people + police horses = high comedy.

Friday
-Mental soundtrack ---> Cassie
-A stop to admire the ever-amazing Flatiron Building on my way to breakfast.
-A still-warm pretzel croissant at the City Bakery.
-Miriam Cahn at Elizabeth Dee: intense semi-abstract drawings with their own interior vocabularies.
-Karen Kilimnik at 303 Gallery: Avengers and '80s models in a recreation of a 1989 show + spooky new photographs.
-Tomory Dodge at CRG Gallery: giant color-smeared canvases, pure eye candy.
-Gary Hill at Gladstone Gallery: playing with perception via optics, videos, backward talking, strobes.
-David Altmejd at Andrea Rosen Gallery: maximalist, intricately-detailed tableaux encased in Plexiglass vitrines and plaster sculptures carved right out of the gallery walls.
-Thin-crust pizza with Pecorino, shaved asparagus, cracked black pepper, quail eggs, and truffle slices + a black cherry Boylans at Co.
-Judith Linhares at Edward Thorp Gallery: eye-popping color in figurative paintings with a funky/cool vibe.
-Sze Tsung Leong at Yossi Milo Gallery: hypnotic, straightforward photographs of urban sprawl around the world, rich in detail.
-Titus Kaphar at Friedman Benda: witty conceptual work addressing the absence of African American artists from the history of art.
-Duke Riley at MagnanMetz: mosaics, artifacts, and crazy-detailed drawings spin tales of hidden incidents from American history from an artist whose work first caught my eye on the subway.
-Drawing with Light at Paul Kasmin Gallery: paper negatives from William Henry Fox Talbot and the like, revealing intricacies I sometimes don't even notice in the "real" pictures.
-Gourmet yummies and a pomegranate frozen yogurt at Zabar's.
-Hot sake + ohitashi + kitsune soba + matcha creme brulee at Soba-ya with Rachel.
-A Boddingtons and quality hangtime at Scratcher.
-Walking home without needing a jacket late on a warm spring night.

Saturday
-Mental soundtrack ---> Kanye West
-Cinnamon toast + Greek yogurt with honey, granola, and macerated fruit + gruyere beignets back at The Breslin.
-His and her coordinated suit/dress combos, '80s-era Vivienne Westwood, and cutting-edge Japanese fashion at the Museum at FIT.
-Bye Bye Kitty!!! Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art at the Japan Society eerily appropriate considering current events.
-Crispy-light spinach pakoras + a green bean and coconut bhaji + rice pudding at Dawat.
-Sugar fantasias and a hundred kids hopped up on goofballs at Dylan's Candy Bar.
-Browsing, just browsing at Barneys.
-Friedrich Schröder-Sonnerstern at Michael Werner: sexual, mythical, scatological colored pencil drawings, completely engrossing.
-Günther Uecker at L & M Arts: swirling arrangements of nails on wood and found objects, sometimes literally kinetic.
-Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of Africa at the Institute for Study of the Ancient World: a jaw-dropping array of artifacts from the kingdom that was situated just south of Egypt five thousand years ago.
-I sing of Stumptown cold brew and its miraculous restorative powers.
-The twilight dinner sampling plate + an Asahi at Hasaki with Rachel.
-My last night in the city lit by the supermoon.

Sunday
-Mental soundtrack ---> Prince, again.
-Even SuperShuttle (despite their best efforts) could not prevent me from my JFK Terminal 5 rituals: a last-minute shopping spree at Muji and from a vanilla frosted from Dunkin' Donuts.
-So Palo Alto High was on my plane back too.  But they mostly slept.
-Props to Ann Beattie's The New Yorker Stories, the perfect book to have along on a trip to NYC.