Happy Birthday!

Fourth of July

On July 4th, we went down to Battery Park to hear Sonic Youth .

We actually got pretty close (thanks to Nicole, who'd scoped out a spot a *lot* closer to the stage).


as you can see in this picture looking the other way:


But with my new camera, what's a few hundred feet?




After the show, we were at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Until we remembered that I have a balcony! So some people came over,



Julia got serious on the grill,


Francis ate some bacon chocolate (for reals),

Bich Thu and I got silly,


etc...
and then we watched some fireworks!

Fourth of July

I know, it was so long ago!
I wasn't sure how good the view would be - I was a little nervous that I'd invited all these people over and then we wouldn't be able to see anything. But the balcony came through:

Church & rooftops

Went to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine to get my bike blessed one fine spring Saturday morning in early May--though I don't know if it counts since none of the holy water that the priest was flinging around managed to land on me or my bike.


And in a complete non-sequiter, it's been a pretty grand spring leading up to summer so far, with various rooftop parties and bbq's and free outdoor shows and such already under our belts. Here are a few shots from a Brooklyn rooftop party from a few weeks ago. The pagan theme of the party isn't apparent from this photo of James & Maki...


But Eric (in a look that I think quite accurately depicts what would happen if Bam Bam were to turn gay and then go blind) is a better representation of what most of the rest of the attendees looked like:

Oh and one last little photo from a long time ago, actually a screen grab from Brian "Bachelor"'s ikeepadiary blog that I browse on occasion:

Roosevelt Island Acoustic BBQ

Last weekend we headed out to Roosevelt Island to hear some bands (but all the hip kids seem to call them "projects" these days). There was a lot of diversity, in terms of musical styles, but I think my favorites were Golden Ghost, The Goddamn Rattlesnake, and Necking (whose set consisted of two guys 100 yards away from each other beating drums, hurling their drumsticks at each other, and yelling obscenities. Maybe you had to be there). It was a hot, I mean, HOT day, and in a field at the southern tip of the island, not a tree or shady spot in sight. There was a gorgeous view of Manhattan though. I was looking around on MySpace and found this guy who had a couple of shots of us (at least from the back). Here they are:

springtime unamplified acoustic bbq IMG 073
Originally uploaded by sandwich! Originally uploaded by sandwich!

Our host, Todd P by name, kept pushing sunscreen and barbeque, urging us to put our beer in cups. I had to leave too early to see too much of Big A/Little A, but I managed to get a picture before I left. On my way out, I also got some pictures of the old hospital.