Duncan Sheik, Town Hall, with Shannon, Izzy, Jeni, Levs, Ken, Alayna, and Danelle.




Holly Brook.



Lauren Pritchard opens; I love her voice, and am liking her songs more and more every time I hear them.

Set list (virtually identical to the Mamaroneck show):

1) For You
2) Wishful Thinking
3) Such Reveries
4) Mama Who Bore Me (w. Holly Brook)
5) Touch Me (w. Holly Brook and Lauren Pritchard)
6) The Dark I Know Well (w. Holly Brook and Lauren Pritchard)
7) The Guilty Ones
8) Don't Do Sadness / Blue Wind (w. Lauren Pritchard)
9) She Runs Away (w. Lauren Pritchard)
10) It's Better to Be Dead
11) We're Here to Tell You
12) The Tale of Solomon Snell
13) We Don't Believe in You
14) Earthbound Starlight
15) Take a Bow

Encore:
16) On a High
17) Home
18) Fake Plastic Trees

Somewhere in between the beginning and the end
September took the tourists and settled in for good.
You could hear the trains again, Brooklyn girls in scarves.
Summer left and no one said a word.

- Matt Nathanson
"Bulletproof Weeks"

Tell me Satan himself wouldn't live in this building.

Election Night at Pacific Standard, Brooklyn.

It's New York City Marathon day, and every year my thoughts drift back to life on 1st Ave., to my first two years living in NYC. I lived in a second floor apartment near E.70th, and the marathon went right under my window. More than the unending throngs of people, more than the triumph and inspiration of unbelievable human accomplishment, more than the heart-melting spectacle of people cheering on their friends and fathers and sons and mothers and daughters and complete and total strangers, more than any of that my overwhelming memory of the experience and privilege of living right on the marathon route is...the horrible bar band that set up in the plaza directly across the street to play the same eight Bon Jovi and jam-bandy covers over and OVER AND OVER AGAIN, ALL DAY.

The Schwartzes moved to Central Park South last December, into an apartment just two floors above the street, and having to listen to the cover bands across the street all afternoon is giving me major flashbacks. (And to the question of what is a more inappropriate song for a bar band to play along the marathon route than "Material Girl", the answer is "Video Killed the Radio Star".)



Thankfully, this guy does a lot better.

Red Bull New York vs. Houston Dynamo, Giants Stadium, Jersey.

After a very inconsistent season, RBNY manages to sneak into the playoffs through the backdoor. Might be the last home game for a while, so I decide to take (and post) about a hundred thousand photos.































The match ends in a 1-1 "tie", though because of the aggregate scoring rules for the first round of playoffs, this only means that we start the next match with the score already 1-1. Will we be able to make it to the next round? We'll find out next Sunday.

Yep, must be Fall again if I'm posting sentimental garbage like this.

Alicia, Big Bar, East Village.

Grand Central Station.

Lauren Pritchard.

Up to Mamaroneck to see Duncan Sheik, with Izzy and Shann.


Meeting at Grand Central.


Looking for food.


Shann and Duncan after the show.


And waiting for the train back to town.




Fun night, excellent show with lots of brand new material.

Set list:

1) For You
2) Wishful Thinking
3) Such Reveries
4) Barely Breathing
5) Mama Who Bore Me (w/ Holly Brook)
6) Touch Me (w/ Holly Brook, Lauren Pritchard)
7) The Dark I Know Well (w/ Holly Brook, Lauren Pritchard)
8) The Guilty Ones
9) Don't Do Sadness / Blue Wind (w/ Lauren Pritchard)
10) It's Better to Be Dead
11) We're Here to Tell You
12) The Tale of Solomon Snell
13) Earthbound Starlight
14) We Don't Believe in You
15) Take a Bow

Encore:
16) She Runs Away (w/ Lauren Pritchard on background vocals)

The new songs are GREAT and make us even more excited for the new record/show/etc. than we already were, if that's possible. And though it's unconfirmed (we'll see after the Town Hall show next month, I guess), we suspect that our being out of town is the reason for the performance of several songs which Duncan NEVER does anymore. We really should see him out of town more often. Or even if not for a show, these little day-trips are always lots of fun (at least, the ones with Shann and Iz always are).