New York Trip, part one. May 10, 2006
Wednesday morning, I got up early so I could meet a dancer friend in downtown DC to catch an 8:30am bus to New York. I was feeling a bit groggy from having to get up so early, but I figured I could catch some zzzz's during the four-hour trip.
We ended up talking for the first two hours which was good. We hadn't seen each other in a while and it was a very pleasant way to pass the time. TIP: a long trip is an excellent compatibility test. Being cramped in a tight seat for a few hours next to a friend, you get a good sense of if she can put up with you and vice versa. We were going to be spending the next two days together so this was a good start, yay!
We got off at the rest stop midway through the trip and when we got back on the bus, the driver popped in a DVD of Ray, the Ray Charles bio pic starring Jamie Foxx. In our sleep-deprivation stupor, it was surreal watching the opening scene of the movie: people getting on the bus as the driver warns the passengers that the bus leaves on time cuz us people just "played" that scene in real life! :-)
My body was dying to catch up on sleep, so for the rest of the trip, my friend and I watched snippets of the movie, dozed off, talked a while, dozed off, eventually waking up in time to see a few landmarks signalling we were close to our destination...
Manhattan--the bus dropped us off at 34th St and 8th Ave and we just basically walked up 8th in search of a place to get some lunch. We were both starving--I intentionally didn't eat much beforehand cuz I dreaded using the bathroom on the bus--trust me on this.
After a few blocks, we found a decent-looking eatery and fueled-up on some food. But not too much cuz we were going to stop by Fazil's to see if my friend could drop-in on a class at the last minute.
While she talked to the front desk person inquiring about classes, I went up to the second floor to use the men's room and took a few pics...
Studio B-2. May 10, 2006 3:24pm
Stuiod B-3: Jorge Navarro rehearsing. May 10, 2006 3:25pm
My friend was also looking for some belly dance costumes and it turns out the receptionist also sells costumes, so she gave her a few samples to check out, escorted us to an empty dance studio so my friend could try them out. Nice merchandise but a little too pricey for now.
Bulletin board. May 10, 2006 3:27pm
We quickly scanned the bulletin board for class schedules and narrowed it down to two: Oscar Valero and Jose Molina offered classes that fit our schedule for Thursday. We noted the times and prices and we headed out and made our way to Menkes a few blocks away to look for dancer accessories.
Menkes. May 10, 2006 4:21pm
We spent a good half-hour just browsing around. I think the staff was getting annoyed that we were opening a lot of boxes to check out the abanicos. I patiently gave my friend feedback on what color fans were compatible with the colors of her costume. I tended towards the bolder colors assuming that these would look better on a stage than the more pastel-like shades.
Then we spent some time checking out skirts. While there were some pretty and intricately tiny floral patterns on some of the skirts they had available, I advised that from afar these patterns wouldn't be appreciated. With all my stage experience, of course I'm right. :-) So if you like tiny floral patterns, great, but it won't make much of an aesthetic impact on a stage.
All this mental energy choosing between colors had me exhausted not to mention all the walking we'd done so far. It's no wonder I had been getting hungry so often--I burn all those calories so quickly! But I was also in a bit of a daze from insufficient fragmented sleep so I needed some caffeine to give me a little boost so I wouldn't be a total zombie. :-) As soon as I spotted a decent looking cafe, we walked in and I quickly ordered a doppio and a tiramisu, yum!
Tiramisu. May 10, 2006 4:38pm
With the much-needed glucose for the brain and caffeine to make me somewhat more mentally alert and I was good to go. Being the spontaneous people we are, we decided to stay an extra day and logged on to an Internet station to look up some cheap hostels to stay at considering that it wouldn't be cool to drop-in at a New York friend's house at 2:00am after partying late on a weeknight.
Surfin' the net. May 10, 2006 5:27pm
A friend gave me a last-minute invite to a private party at an exclusive club--complete with snooty doormen who don't let just anybody in! Of course, having an invite is still no guarantee we'll get in, but it was enough of an incentive to convince us to stay another night. We visited a hostel in uptown (a very quiet and safe neighborhood) but the price was a little too steep and so we opted for one in East Village called the Gershwin which turned out to be perfect: it's not the Ritz but it had an artsy kind of feel which we liked plus it was in the middle of the part of town and it was cheap!
With the accomodations situation taken care of, it was time to get back out there and do the tourist thing...
Miguelito in Times Square. May 10, 2006 5:54pm
So I was still a bit groggy (see above pic), but the important thing was that we weren't in a rush to be anywhere--no gig, no appointment, nada. No guitar to carry, no sound system to lug around. No late-arriving dancers to worry about. It was just time to hang out with a close friend and enjoy doing absolutely nothing. Nice!
We had reservations for dinner at Joe's Pub where another dancer friend of mine was performing. Anyhoo...I'll continue this later.
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