[Day Five] NYC: if you can make it here you can make it anywhere

Mar 27, 2010 by Monica Danna    2 Comments    Posted under: music, travel, video

And that’s exactly how we felt when we pulled across the Brooklyn/Queens Expressway…we made it.

After five days in the car, Andrew and I were low on energy and exhausted from late nights and early mornings. But as soon as we caught glimpse of the NYC skyline, our morale instantly improved with the thought of meeting up with the rest of the band shortly.

I’ve been to New York many times, but driving into the city that never sleeps is an experience I’ll never forget. Our day five commute had us departing Silver Spring, just outside of D.C. at 7am and through New Jersey, Delaware, and a quick detour through Philly, PA on the Ben Franklin bridge. Philly sure does have a purdy skyline, and that’s pretty much all we saw of it.

We rolled into Williamsburg about noon, met up with the rest of the band and Andrew’s buddy, Matt Pace, and artist and DJ in Brooklyn.  It was quite the experience driving through Brooklyn in a huge Texas-sized SUV. Of course, I rolled down all the windows and blasted Jay-Z. What else was I to do? ;-)

Matt took us to get some lunch in Williamsburg at Anna Maria’s Pizza, we then headed into the city to setup for the band’s first show of the day at Best Buy in Union Square. I drove the guys and their equipment across the Williamsburg Bridge and said a big hello to Manhattan!

The guys unloaded and I headed to attempt the daunting task of finding a place to park the tank. I found a parking garage near Union Square, only a measly $20/hour + $10 for it being an oversized vehicle. Yep.

I met up with the guys inside the huge Best Buy, the only 24-hour store in the world. They played an awesome set for a nice-sized group of passers-by. We didn’t really know what to expect playing inside a Best Buy, but I was pleasantly surprised at the group of captive shoppers who stopped to watch.

Brian’s Dad, Andrew’s sister, Stephanie, and Daniel’s brother, Dominic, all met us at the show. It was so great to see so many familiar faces. After the show we headed to Arlene’s Grocery to load in for the midnight show. Arlene’s is somewhat of a legendary venue in NYC. The guys were super stoked to be playing there, and the energy was high despite all of us being on little sleep and experience overload.

After load in I took the guys a few blocks over  to Marfa NYC, a Texas BBQ joint in the Lower East Side that I visited when I was here back in December. Mac’n'cheese to die for and great homemade BBQ sauce. After dinner we headed to The Library in Alphabet City, a bar that reminds me of Houston’s Poison Girl, and met up with Andrew’s dad, Mr. Big, who was serendipitously in New York for work this weekend.

We all walked over to Arlene’s to catch a a few of the opening bands before the guys went on at midnight. A few of Daniel’s cousins met up with us, as well as Andrew’s dad and sister and Brian’s dad. It was a family affair!

Their set was fantastic. Probably the tightest I’ve ever heard them play. They filmed the entire show and I can’t wait to share it once it’s all downloaded.

We got in pretty late, and were able to sleep in this morning, thankfully! The guys just headed into the city to do some sightseeing and I’m about to do some shopping and a pedicure in Williamsburg. Come on, I know we’re on tour but I need some girl time. (I can hear Everson now, “there’s no pedicure in touring!”)

While walking around this morning, Andrew and Daniel ran into Houston band, News on the March in Williamsburg, also on an east coast tour. Small freaking world.

One more show tonight in Brooklyn at Legion Bar, then headed back to Houston. It’s been an awesome trip, and I still have to digest it all. We’re hoping to be home by Tuesday, still haven’t figured out our route back yet, but that’s what iPhones are for, right? ;-)

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