Weekend Triathlon

I'm no longer going to Cincinnati, OH for the weekend so I thought I'd provide the general public with my ultimate outdoor weekend in NY.

It's almost hot and sunny so take advantage of your momentary break in the clouds.

This is my master plan for a weekend triathlon out of and around NYC. A bike, food, wine, less than $20 and possibly a swimsuit is required.

Begin Saturday, early morning. Bike the 18 mile ride from Williamsburg, BK to The Cloisters along the Hudson River Greenway. Picnic with a bottle of wine and some food and then tour the Cloisters (pay only a $1, since it's donation anyway).


View Larger Map

Hop back on the bike and take the Hudson River Greenway down to Pier 96 on 57th St and the Hudson River. Downtown Boathouse offers free kayaking from 9am to 5:30pm every weekend. Kayak to your hearts content.

Or if you prefer swimming stop by the Riverbank State Park and enjoy views of the Hudson and an Olympic sized pool for only $2.

Get on the bike and finish up the last 10 miles or so back to BK.

Nap. And then head down to the FREE NYC Opera performance on the Pier at South Street Seaport!

Get up early Sunday and be prepared for a day full of hiking and the Hudson. Go to Grand Central Station to catch the Metro North to Croton-Harmon ($8.25 one way) and hike the 3 miles to the start of the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail at Croton Gorge Park. The Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct have a FREE map of the trail from the Croton Dam Plaza to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, click above. Hike south along the trail and just north of Ossining is the large Crawbuckie Park, take a picnic if hungry. Continue south pass by Sing Sing. Continue until you've hiked the 15+ miles to Tarrytown (aka Sleepy Hollow). Eat food and visit the cemetery. Catch the train from Tarrytown Station back to the city ($8.25). Hikinglite has put together a rundown of the bike ride along the Croton Aqueduct Trail.

Get home and take another nap.

That's my actively filled weekend. Thank goodness it's starting to look like summer outside.

-Alyssa

Southern Illinois Meets NYC

Wow, I haven't blogged in over two months! By now anyone who might have read this has definitely lost hope. I still want to share places and events, though!

New LES spot for rare beers and wine: Sweet & Lowdown
123 Allen St (at Delancey), 212-228-7746

And in other news, Salukis at Madison Square Garden!
Friday, November 21— Madison Square Garden
• Basketball Game – 5 p.m.

And click here in case you have no clue what a Saluki is...

Free Stuff for last week of July

I have been a terrible little blogger as of recently. I am DOING fun things, just not blogging about what is to come.

Here are the remainder of my July FREE activities that I have planned for myself:

Thursday, July 24th
Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit, Movies with a View @ Brooklyn Bridge: FREE
Synopsis:

"The annual Giant Vegetable Competition is days away and Wallace & Gromit’s humane pest control service, “Anti-Pesto,” is doing big business. But who exactly is changing into the mysterious Were-Rabbit, trashing and eating all the prized veggies? Find out in this 2005 Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature."

Friday, July 25th (in the wee-morning hours)
Feist performing for Good Morning America @ Bryant Park: FREE

Sunday, July 27th
MGMT and the Ting Tings @ McCarren Park Pool: FREE

Wednesday, July 30th (also other dates available)
12 Ophelia's @ McCarren Park Pool: FREE
Synopsis:

"Twelve Ophelias centers on Hamlet's Ophelia coming back to life, out of the water, to try to overcome her history and forge a new destiny for herself. She finds herself in an Appalachian Elsinore, Denmark by way of Deliverance—where Gertrude runs a brothel, Hamlet and Horatio slum it, and nothing is what it seems. In this squarely American and gritty interpretation of the Hamlet myth, Twelve Ophelias asks how it is possible to break old cycles and start afresh when the past so completely permeates your life."

Bubble Battle NYC 2008

June 21st at 6:16pm, NewMindSpace will be organizing another Bubble Battle scheduled in Manhattan. Location TBA shortly.

RSVP to the NYC Facebook Invite here.

Here is more info on the after party from the NewMindSpace email I received:

The afterparty will be at an incredible space, and if everything goes according to plan, will feature the amazing giant Lite-Brite built by Jason Eppink for our party BRITE! in Toronto last weekend (which featured New York's own AC Slater and Udachi) among many other awesome creations and chiptunes music all night long!

See photos of the Lite-Brite here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasoneppink/tags/litebrite/

BrooklynVegan and I totally think alike

I have been working on my own excel-version of a Free Events Calendar for NYC, but today BrooklynVegan released their own online-version (http://www.brooklynvegan.com/events.html) which totally kicks my ass.

Bookmark it and live by it for the summer.

Big Apple BBQ!

Ahhh! Big Apple BBQ is back in a big way on June 7th-8th in Madison Square Park. It all goes down between 12-6pm each day and it's 8 bucks a plate.

Once again, 17th Street Bar & Grill of Murphysboro, IL will be in attendance, showing the rest of them how BBQ is done. I am totally bringing my SIUC student ID with me when I go to their booth. And yes, I have still held onto my ID after all this time, thank you very much.

Bryant Park events announced!

Bryant Park announced their Monday movies for the summer, which makes me look forward to June even more than before! Also they announced their GMA concerts line-up, if I can get my ass outta bed early enough. Though I think Feist on July 25th might be a good enough reason for me to head to Bryant Park early on a Friday! =)

2008 HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival

The lawn opens at 5:00pm for blankets (no plastic tarps please) and picnicking. The films begin at dusk (typically between 8pm and 9pm).

June

Mon 16: Dr. No

Mon 23: Bride of Frankenstein

Mon 30: Hud

July

Mon 7: The Man Who Came to Dinner

Mon 14: Fail Safe

Mon 21: Arsenic and Old Lace

Mon 28: The Apartment

August

Mon 4: Lifeboat

Mon 11: The Candidate

Mon 18: Superman

http://bryantpark.org/

Museum Mile Festival on June 3rd

Taken from the official Museum Mile Festival website:

One day a year, for the past 29 years, nine of the country's finest museums, all ones that call Fifth Avenue home, collectively open their doors for free to New Yorkers and visitors for a mile-long block party and visual art celebration. This traffic-free, music- and art-filled celebration fills the street and sidewalks of Fifth Avenue from 82nd to 105th street, the mile now officially designated as Museum Mile. Over 50,000 visitors attend the festival annually.

This year's 30th annual festival kicks off at Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum with an opening ceremony, at 5:45pm, on the steps of its landmark building on Fifth Avenue @ 91st Street.

Plus, follow the mile with street muralist De La Vega – grab a piece of chalk and make your mark!

I think the chalk-drawing is meant for children, but screw that - I fully intend to get my chalkin' on!

Tuesday, June 3rd from 6:00-9:00pm
Fifth Avenue from 82nd to 105th street

Walton Ford

Press Release from Paul Kasmin Gallery:

With meticulous detail, Ford's work depicts animals embodying degrees of personification in the context of isolated historical events. Transient moments recalled in Ford's work comment on, in his words, "the cultural history of our relationship with animals." Ford is especially interested in the perceptions of animals by humans as evidenced by documentation. After researching specific stories, Ford offers his interpretation—sometimes exaggerating the animal's supposed humanness and in other instances, stripping the animal of imposed metaphors, and thereby restoring the candor of the animal's bestial state. The anthropomorphic nature of Ford's animals is often compared to the work of artist, John J. Audubon, one of Ford's many influences.

At Paul Kasmin Gallery (293 Tenth Ave.) until July 3rd

I <3 BBQ

First there was Hill Country on 26th Street (which I have been to with my work crew) and now there is Wildwood Barbeque on Park Ave @ 18th. Both are from the BBQ brain of "Big Lou" Elrose.

Details from UrbanDaddy:

You might be familiar with Texas-style barbecue from Hill Country, Big Lou's previous gig, but Wildwood casts a wider net. To prepare the menu, Lou went on a pilgrimage to the best barbecue joints in the country, stockpiling 500 jars of sauce and visiting pits from Raleigh to St. Louis. The result is a menu chock full of the best regional American barbecue, with pulled pork courtesy of North Carolina, baby back ribs from Memphis, pork ribs from Kansas City and lamb spare ribs from...his imagination.

Naturally, you'll want something to wash all that down, so they've stockpiled 30 different bourbons for your sipping pleasure, along with suitably refined cocktails like a spot-on Mint Julep (fortified with "Kentucky Colonel" mint).

Wildwood Barbecue, 225 Park Ave S. (at 18th), 212-533-2500

Karaoke Marathon: The Sequel

As quoted on my Facebook Event Invite:


Event Info

Name:			Karaoke Marathon: The Sequel
Tagline:			Because we didn't finish our karaoke queue last time...
Host:			Arminda
Type:			Music/Arts - Jam Session

Time and Place

Date:		Sunday, April 27, 2008
Time:		3:00pm - 8:00pm
Location:		Duet 35
Street:		53 W 35th Street (between 5th and 6th Ave)
City/Town:		New York, NY

Description
On that fateful Sunday afternoon in March when Jesse, Heidi, Bob, Billy-Bob and I went to Duet, magic happened. Party lights flashed, tambourines rang, and microphones melted. Songs have forever been altered in history due to our amazing renditions and sweet, passionate crooning. Sadly, 8pm came before we knew it and were forced to leave behind an amazing queue of songs still crying out to be sung.

If you miss out the second time around, you are just plain dumb.

$12 All You Can Sing Karaoke Marathon from 3-8pm. We will have a private room, so you will only be embarrassing yourself in front of those that love you dearly. Besides, what happens in Duet stays in Duet.

Please RSVP on this invite by APRIL 23th so that I can reserve a room big enough to hold everyone!

And so did Heidi's.

Heidi knows what this girl likes!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Heidi Vanderlee '**************@gmail.com'
Date: Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 10:39 PM
Subject: please tell me you love both of these things
To: Arminda Klier '************@gmail.com'


http://nymag.com/nyxny
--
Heidi Vanderlee(/slice)
Tiny Mix Tapes
www.tinymixtapes.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the gist of the link Heidi sent, if you are too lazy to hover your mouse and click:
New York mag brings to you this summer,

• Indie Rock Trivia Night (with host Zach Galifianakis and musical guest Les Savy Fav, Highline Ballroom on May 21st @ 8pm, tix on sale now)
• Best Rooftop Party Ever (tix on sale June 2008)
  
• Highbrow Backyard Barbeque (tix on sale July 2008)
  
• Bad Art Auction (tix on sale November 2008)
  
• Indie Rock Karaoke Returns Again (tix on sale January 2009)
  

Chrissy's email made my day.

They all sound lovely, Christine. Now we just need to plan a time to go to all of these!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Christine Huhn '***********@gmail.com'
Date: Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 7:28 PM
Subject: exhibits
To: Mindy Klier '**********@gmail.com'


1. http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.3639335/
(this one, you'd have to pay.. 8$ I think it is. so I can go it alone
if you're not interested)
-there's also the MFA show at ICP which is free

2. http://www.teamgal.com/exhibitions/131
of course! duh!

3. http://www.nrgallery.com/index1.php
pretty excited about this one.

4. http://www.bellwethergallery.com/current_01.cfm?fid=495
Tableau's! Yessss.

5. http://www.phhfineart.com/main.html
Jeff Olsen, North Woods
makes me feel like home, in PA.

6. http://www.luhringaugustine.com/index.php?mode=current#
OMG OMG!!! I LOVE Gregory Crewdson.
his lighting is unbelievable
4/5 - 5/3

7. http://www.jenkinsjohnsongallery.com/exhibitions/08yoon/yoon_thumbs.htm
Finally, this will be over, so I don't think we'll get to see it.. but
it sure is awesome!!

AND, I love the ones you wanna see. Especially the horizon one.
I thought that was a good amount, otherwise I would look into some
painting exhibits.

Lastly...
NEED TO SEEEEE
http://www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com/exhibition-w.html
dioramas!!!

--
Christine Huhn
Brooklyn, NY

Mark, come back.

There is a gallery exhibit just especially for you!

PRESS RELEASE:

"Caren Golden Fine Art is pleased to present Mirror Universe, the first solo exhibition by Devorah Sperber with the gallery. Mirror Universe will feature an entirely new body of work by Sperber based on images from the television series Star Trek. The title, Mirror Universe, alludes to the 1967 Star Trek episode Mirror, Mirror in which a transporter mishap swaps the crew of the Enterprise with evil counterparts, trapping them in a “savage parallel universe.” The concept of a mirror or parallel universe is a dominant theme in the show, and, in keeping with this metaphor, many of the works incorporate mirrors to view the work. For Sperber the exhibition is an opportunity to look at the relationship between popular science and art, and how they relate to larger metaphysical issues. In particular, she is interested in how consciousness and the act of seeing create the illusion of a stable, predictable, singular world."

Word.

Mirror Universe: March 20 - April 26, 2008
539 West 23rd Street

Gary Panter: Pictures from the Psychedelic Swamp: 1972 – 2001

Cool Hunting did it, yet again. This time, it's trippy. Here is what Cool Hunting had to say:

Fans of Pee Wee’s Playhouse, RAW and SLASH magazines and the comic character Jimbo know and love the work of Gary Panter. You probably know it too, having seen his “jagged lines and surreal cartoons” in magazines, on TV and on the internet too. “Pictures from the Psychedelic Swamp: 1972 – 2001” a micro-mini retrospective of thirty years of drawings, sculptures, painting and installations opening at Clementine Gallery tonight. The show was inspired by the imminent release of the “Gary Panter: the Book” a two volume, 686-page, full-color monograph published by PictureBox. You can also catch Panther's work at the Aldrich through 31 August 2008. See below for details.

4 April-10 May 2008
Clementine Gallery
623 West 27th Street

Sze Tsung Leong: Horizons

Cool Hunting occasionally brings things to me I decide I need (like Bananagrams, which I just purchased today). Thanks to their RSS feed, this exhibit is now on my to-do list:

Over the past seven years, Sze Tsung Leong has produced a series of photographs called "Horizons," which provide an expansive view of different environments from across the globe. On view at the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York through 17 May 2008, "Horizons" consists of over sixty works each measuring 14x 24 inches.

Born in Mexico City in 1970, Sze Tsung Leong spent his childhood between Mexico, Britain, and the United States and this conglomerate of cultures is evident in his photographs. Regardless of their geography (including Mexico City, Cairo, Tokyo, or Inner Mongolia), Leong manages to connect rivers, cityscapes and industrial zones into a consistently beautiful accumulation of textures and colors.

"Horizons" - 3 April through 17 May 2008
Yossi Milo Gallery: 525 West 25th Street

Free: 'Wordless Music' at the Whitney

My oh my, I really dropped the ball this month. My email inbox is to the brim with my daily newsletters that I have left unopened and I have bookmarked a few things that I wanted to do, but never posted. Let's catch up, shall we?

Fridays in June are looking pretty good, thanks to the Wordless Music series being put on at the Whitney.

This is what Brooklyn Vegan told me:

At the Whitney's invitation, we asked four of our favorite groups-The Berg Sans Nipple, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Prefuse 73, and Times New Viking -to do one Friday-night set apiece at the museum's indoor/outdoor Lower Gallery space. We then invited another of our favorite groups-ACME, the American Contemporary Music Ensemble-to choose music from a broad and representative range of contemporary composers, and to come up with four complementary "classical" programs. What did they end up choosing? Chamber music, ranging from solo percussion to seven strings, by Ingram Marshall, Kevin Volans, John Adams, Chen Yi, and Jefferson Friedman.

Total cost to you, the consumer? $0.00.

About getting into these: museum admission is pay-what-you-wish during Whitney After Hours, Fridays 6-9 pm. Shows begin promptly at 7.
Space is *extremely* limited. Seating and admission for Whitney Live is on a first-come, first-served basis; reservations are not accepted.

June 06 - The berg sans nipple
June 13 - A sunny Day in Glasgow
June 20 - Prefuse 73
June 27 - Times New Viking
July 18 - Deerhoof (@ Prospect Park)

The Whitney Museum
Madison Avenue
& East 75th Street

Quitzow at Rehab (formerly Club Midway)

I love it when I can promote an event related to a friend! My friend, Heidi, plays cello occasionally for the group, Quitzow. According to their Myspace page, they Sound like "getting lost in a Japanese strip mall while slightly intoxicated from love and otherwise..." I agree. This Thursday they are playing at Rehab (the venue formerly known as Club Midway), going on at 10pm. You can download a free MP3 of "On TV!" and possibly swing by on Thursday for more. Seeing a moog and cellos all rocking on the same stage is worth it!


Rehab, 25 Ave B (between 2nd and 3rd)

Muzi Quawsom photo exhibit

Press Release on Yossi Milo Gallery website:

Focusing on “outsiders”, Ms. Quawson explores the various social, financial, and political structures that define American society. With photographs that possess a cinematic style, Ms. Quawson investigates the identity of Amanda Jo Williams, a young musician and mother in Woodstock, New York. After a chance meeting in Manhattan in 2002, Ms. Quawson created Pull Back the Shade over the course of the following four years while staying with Amanda in Woodstock and traveling with her around the country. By photographing Amanda’s relationships with her partner and young twin daughters, Ms. Quawson’s photographs comment on the frustrations of young motherhood, domesticity and social alienation.

The style of the photographs recalls the cinematography of New American Cinema of the 1970s and its aggrandizement of the anti-hero. Pull Back the Shade was first shown at the Tate Britain in London where the works were displayed as a slideshow, bringing their collective effect closer to that of a film. For this exhibition, the color negatives have been developed as Duratran prints and placed in light boxes; the result is a series of illuminated photographs that resemble stills from a color film.

Yossi Milo Gallery (525 W. 25th Street)
February 21, 2008–March 29, 2008

*** *** *** RECAP *** *** ***
I saw this exhibit last weekend and just had to say that I thought it was really great. Having the photographs illuminated in light boxes was the perfect touch and really did lend to the idea of film stills. I highly recommend checking it out while it is still at Yossi Milo.

New west-side spot: The Rusty Knot

99 cent beers! Pigs-in-Blankets! Sunsets over the Hudson! And do I see a jukebox and pool table in that picture?!

Let's go to The Rusty Knot on the (way) west side for all of the above.

Urban Daddy gives us the details:

Here, in an unassuming storefront, you'll find The Rusty Knot, the brainchild of Ken Friedman (The Spotted Pig) with the all-star cast of Taavo Somer (Freeman's), Tobey Maloney (Milk & Honey) and a Momofuku alum. The result is a detail-rich, high-pedigree Manhattan cocktail spot colliding with a kitsched-out cruiseliner and an old-school tiki room.

All you'll see from the sidewalk is the leftover awning from former incarnation West Bar, but trust us, it's another world inside. Make your way to the bamboo-paneled bar—past the large, dingy fish tank and the trophy fish mounted above the pool table—and you'll find a bar dedicated to the lost art of rum. That means you'll get classic tiki drinks, served in a coconut or a plastic totem glass, but made with homemade bitters to avoid the typical sweetness and somewhat mitigate the swipe at your manhood.

If that doesn't do it for you, you might think about settling in for an ice-cold beer (which starts at the way-back price of 99 cents), nibbling on a few pigs-in-blankets, throwing back an oyster or two and watching the sun fade away over the Hudson.

The Rusty Knot, open 12pm-4am, 425 West St. (at 11th St.)