Tag Archives: Manhattan

How I visited New York City – part 2

Ryan Boldt captured on my mobile phone during concert

First part of this post is available here -> How I visited New York City – part 1

This post will focus on Concerts & my “Bob Dylan’s Village” tour.

CONCERTS
Less planing required for this part.
Find the right websites (Village Voice is a good start for NYC), check their calender (what’s on).. and plot in your dates.
In addition you should visit the websites of important theatres & Music venues.. just to be sure.

I was very lucky to land a concert with 2 of my “Top 25 albums of 2011” artists: The Deep Dark Woods & Robert Earl Keen.
This was pure luck, but when visiting a place like NYC.. there are usually great names performing..
The Venue was “Irving Plaza“:
My advice: don’t show up to early.. the bar is… expensive.. 🙂

The Concert was a great experience. Deep Dark Woods delivered the goodies, a dark and moving sound.. that pulls you in and holds a good grip. If you dig  Townes Van Zandt’s “No Deeper Blue” (I love that album), you really need to check out their music. I managed to write down 7 out of 10 songs on my mobile phone (forgot  pen & paper.. grrrr) of their setlist:

The Banks of Leopold Canal, Westside Street, Back Alley Blues, The Place I Left Behind, Sugar Mama, The Man In Me (Dylan cover), Two Time Loser

Continue reading How I visited New York City – part 2

How I visited New York City – part 1

New York City – Jan 2012

This is a glimpse into how I always plan & execute my visits to important cities/sites where great art resides.
Great art to me is many things.. but primarily music, paintings, sculpture & architecture.

My  goal is always to maximize experience and having a great time. I do plan very rigidly.. and am truly convinced that spontaneity is ok… as long as it is well planned.

So.. on my planning lists are: Museums, Concerts, “Music related sites”, churches, buildings, … and secondary: hotels, restaurants, bars/pubs..

This article will hopefully contain some tips for travellers visiting NYC

Hard edges:

  • Destination: NYC
  • Time: arrive late Thursday – 19 of January, leave Sunday from Hotel around 1530
  • Hotel: = just had to be – Washington Square Hotel
  • Main focus (decided early on): Bob Dylan’s Greenwich Village, The MET, MoMA, and as much  live music as possible….
  • Social circumstances: four pals as travelling companions, not interested in art.. but did at least (under some mild pressure) join me for the concerts 🙂
  • Movie everbody has to see (again) before visiting NYC: Woody Allen’s – Manhattan

This is how it went..
(everything here was planned upon arrival, except the bonus of some “Sunday Jazz” at our Hotel)

Thursday:
~2300 – @Washington Square Hotel in Greenwich Village
~2400 – at Café Wha? for live music and drinks
House band was OK, played Johnny Cash – Ring of Fire, Stones – Miss You, some U2, A-Ha, Pearl Jam’s Better Man.. +
~0100 – @Bed

Continue reading How I visited New York City – part 1