Some things I had the displeasure of seeing during my trip to Greenwich Village.
On the other hand, I did get a bunch of photos and I hope to have most of the film developed soon.
Today, a handful of us from school and my guitar teacher went to the NASDAQ Market bulding in Manhattan. Why, you ask? Well, we got to play some flamenco music for a little show that was going on.
I went to school dressed flamenco-style and everyone was like, “Why are you dressed up?” Loads of fun. Especially since we did barely anything in class. It was because of the snow. Some teachers were missing, too.
We left for the show after school. The trip was nice since we went by subway. (Aren’t ya jealous, Sudman?) We got to see the snow on rooftops and there was a place that was just beyond awesome with all this graffiti all over the place.
Before going to the building, we decided to pop into the Hard Rock Cafe shop. We went to the museum thing downstairs and this guy was like, “You guys are so cool. I don’t know what you guys are gonna do, but you guys are just so cool!” We just said, “Thanks,” and went on with our business.
The show was nice and the best part was that there was a lot of food to eat. Everyone came around and kept telling us how great we were. Of course, I messed up a bit and I don’t think anyone noticed it too much. I rushed up a bit sometimes.
This lady was talking to us and she had this really nice quote: “Bravery isn’t not being scared. Bravery is being scared and doing it anyway.” Now that is awesome.
Tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day and I was quite happy till a few minutes ago. However, my plans have gone mushy-bye-bye. Ah well, there’s always birthdays and such.
Photos of the show can be seen over here.
On Thursday, I went to see Colin Meloy, of the Decemberists, perform at the Town Hall in Manhattan. It was great watching him play, especially since it was my first concert. I still can’t believe I was in the same room as Colin Meloy. He’s just so cool! I also got to see performances by Amy Annelle and Laura Veirs, both of whom opened for Colin.
Amy Annelle, of The Places, played some pretty nice music. She said to “lower your force fields” before playing. It’s because her music’s kind of unusual and you have to listen carefully at first to enjoy it. I liked it a lot. I even went to get her autograph on during the intermission since she was standing near the place where they were selling stuff. Of course, I got the autograph on a CD by The Places.
I had heard of Laura Veirs before going to the show since I read about her on the Decemberists’ site when I heard of Colin’s tour. I’ve been a fan ever since. Her performance was nice. One thing that struck me as funny was how she “layered” stuff in some of her songs. She’d sing/play something and then it would run as a recording while she added something onto it. It was nice, though. In the middle of her performance, she told us about a friend of hers who had made a deck of cards with her face on them. 
She tried to throw the cards across the hall to people, but the cards either refused to go further than the first few rows or just turned around and went back to her. I got Laura’s new album, Year of Meteors, which is pretty nice, and I got a tshirt, which I might have to try and shrink since it’s a tiny bit bigger than what I normally wear.
It had been two hours before Colin finally came out. Everyone started clapping. He started off with a Tarkio song. He would keep cracking jokes and saying funny things the whole time. He was playing next to a table that had a skull, a sheep, and a ship on it. He said that the skull, which was named Cheryl, represented death. The sheep, whose name was Erick, with a ‘k’ but a silent ‘c’ before it, represented life. The ship, Maya Angelou, represented ships. He told us about how he had promised himself he would never write a song about having a baby but decided to write one anyway. Him and Carson Ellis, his girlfriend, are gonna be parents in about a month. 
The song was really nice and you can get it at Stereogum. A lot of the songs Colin performed were ones I didn’t know since the only Decemberists albums I have are Her Majesty The Decemberists and Picaresque. During one of them, he was playing guitar and he said, “This is where the guitar solo will be,” and started kinda humming it out. I wish I could’ve gotten his autograph, but he left through the backstage exit, so I couldn’t. I did, however, get a copy of his limited edition EP, which either him or Carson packed for me by hand.
Overall, the whole experience was great. I went with my mom because of last minute schedule changes and I actually liked it. I was able to have my mom understand what kind of music I like without explaining to her since it’s hard for me to do that.
Photo credit for the photo of Colin goes to jen c. I thought we couldn’t take in cameras, so I gave mine to my dad when he was dropping us off. I later saw that people snuck in cameras. Silly me.
I just came back from Colin Meloy’s concert, and let me tell you, even though I couldn’t take my cameras, I had an awesome time. I got the autographs of Amy Annelle (secret suprise guest), and Laura Veirs. I couldn’t get Colin’s autograph because he went backstage as soon as everything was over. Well, I’m tired and hungry, so the rest will come soon. Most probably tomorrow, since I have no school.
Being a first generation American, I often was embarassed by my Bengali background as a kid. I mean, I used to hate talking to Bengali kids in Bengali. I also hated having to do stuff like going to cultural parties and whatnot. I’m starting to accept being Bengali and I’m starting to see how cool it is to be a first gen.
If there’s one thing I still hate about Bengali culture, it’s the horrible movies that are made in Bangladesh. They’re just filled with crap and mostly people of the, as much as I hate to say this kinda stuff, lower class watch that stuff. However, there are many excellent Bengali short films and mini-series that are pretty fun to watch.
While sitting in a local Bengali restaurant, a guy came and gave out some cards advertising an audition. Some company is looking to make a Bengali-American movie and they’re looking for people. Since I can speak fluent Bengali [1], I’m gonna try out for the audition. I’m pretty sure they won’t be making it as crappy as the ones in Bangladesh.
[1] Ever since I could talk, my parents spoke only Bengali to me since they knew I’d learn English in school. To this day, I speak Bengali with my parents and family.
