new york trip!
I took a vacation to NYC last weekend with my lovely and handsome spouse Han. Time to write a VACATION REPORT!
Yoko Kanno's Piano Me concert was the main reason I decided to plan this trip. She's one of my favorite composers of all time, and I would credit her as the reason I got so into anime in the first place. I still remember turning on the TV one night during my childhood, barely awake after a long night at the county fair, to see Cowboy Bebop for the first time during its original Adult Swim run. It was the Ballad of Fallen Angels episode, and I tuned in right at the end. Hearing Green Bird and The Real Folk Blues back-to-back basically changed my brain chemistry. Her music still influences me today; Turn A Gundam and Escaflowne have my favorite anime OSTs of all time. I listen to soundtracks of hers for anime I've never watched, even - the Brain Powerd OST is great. I'll watch it someday.
Now let's get into the actual trip!
Thursday
We got to Manhattan around 5pm. I was really impressed with our hotel! It's a brand new hotel in Midtown, just across the street from the Nintendo Store. They gave us free wine at a happy hour every day, even offering us steak and caviar samplers from their new steakhouse?! It was a lot fancier than I expected.
After settling in, we predictably went to the Nintendo store.
We wandered a bit over to BOOKOFF, then got hungry and ended up at Tsuru Ton Tan Udon for dinner. The udon bowl was so big I could barely take a picture.
I always bring a streaming box when I travel, but I couldn't plug it in since the TV was wall-mounted, so we watched a ton of Family Guy when getting ready for bed.
Friday
Breakfast: Blueberry Lavender Brioche Wave from Maman.
We tried getting out after that, but I got nauseous and had to rest most of the morning. Han went and got some really good pizza while I was knocked out, then brought me pepto bismol like an angel.
I was feeling better that afternoon, so this little guy made me take him to his favorite store, Chrome Hearts.
As expected, no silver in stock that day. I waited in line behind the Chrome Hearts Final Boss, this guy had on at least 10 jewelry pieces and a leather jacket design from them I've never seen before.
We stopped at Laduree for some macarons and palmiers, then headed over to Central Park. It was beautiful and we had perfect weather all weekend!
Next up was dinner at Via Quadronno. Walking around the Upper East side is especially fun as a guy who watched a lot of Gossip Girl.
After a short rest at the hotel, we headed back out to VERS to watch the new episode of Rupaul's Drag Race, because we are annoying gay people who can't miss the LaLaPaRuza episode. Jackie Cox, who was on Season 12 of RPDR, hosted the watchalong!
When it was a bit darker, I kept thinking that bartender was Jerma in silhouette.
Saturday
We got up and headed over to East Village! I really loved walking around here, lots of vintage shopping. This bookstore had a really cute cat and a lot of Snoopy books.
I had to check out all of the goth stores of course. A guy at the Halloween store I went to first even sent me his own curated google doc with an expert-level guide to goth stuff in NYC! My favorite spot was Trash and Vaudeville. I got a new O-ring belt and Han got some really cool Dalmatian Hair Dr Martens.
Had the most delicious bagel of my life at Apollo Bagels. I want another one...
Not pictured is an extremely tasty Salty Black Sugar Matcha from Not as Bitter coffee shop across the street. I got too excited to drink it.
We took the subway back and rested for a while, then headed back out to see Yoko Kanno finally!
The show started with her alone at the piano, playing TANK!, Rush, and Piano Black, all well-known by the crowd, then going into a song I hadn't ever heard, Catalina from the 1993 game Uncharted Waters II: New Horizons. I somehow got a pic of her quick cheeky smile at the audience.
She moved on to Cat blues, with a cute interactive animation of her Captain Duckling mascot over the piano. From here the visuals got more intense leading into mainly Ghost in the Shell songs with a few others mixed in. Each song with Origa featured isolated vocals from her, and you could hear the whole audience sniffling and tearing up a bit when the visuals formed into a hologram of her singing along. Scott Matthew came out to sing his songs from Ghost in the Shell too!
Next, she decided to destroy Han & I emotionally by playing the Kaoru & Sentaro duet medley from Kids on the Slope with the drummer from the Seatbelts, Yasuo Sano.
Of course I got to hear Green Bird live, but she had the audience sing the [do re mi fa so] part of the melody for her. Next, Steve Conte came out to sing Rain, one of my go-to karaoke songs. He sang most of his songs from Cowboy Bebop after that, with various members of the Seatbelts joining each song and a really incredible gospel choir featured on some of the performances. Space Lion was especially beautiful with the full band and gospel. I think I leaned over at some point during Gotta knock a little harder to say to Han, "intimate piano concert my ass" lol.
I didn't get a picture, but there was an original animated short directed by Shinichiro Watanabe that played during Blue!
I was pleasantly surprised to hear her play Voices from Macross Plus - it was just her on piano, but I really love that song and Akino Arai! Sora no Mori was an absolutely formative album for me too.
She finished out with an audience singalong to Real Folk Blues, then Rakuen from Wolf's Rain. I didn't recognize that one until checking the setlist! I was expecting to hear either stray or could you bite the hand with Steve Conte there, or maybe gravity as a piano solo from that OST. Hopefully she comes back to play more for us someday!
I didn't end up getting tickets to the Yoko Kanno + Seatbelts concert the night before since we wanted to fit in a variety of activities, but I heard I missed out on her playing Garden of Everything with Steve Conte!! I'm sad I missed that, but I watched it on youtube afterwards at least...
We didn't eat dinner beforehand since the bagels were too delicious and filling, so we stopped at Golden HOF, a KBBQ place, for some late-night snacks just before closing. Pictured is Korean Fried Chicken Wings, Kimchi Ikura Pancake, and a very delicious Banana Espressotini.
More Family Guy.
Sunday
We went out in the morning for some shopping near our hotel. Uniqlo, etc. I got an XS Vivienne Westwood armor ring for my pinky!
Next, Langan's for lunch! I got a chicken club and a Purple Haze cocktail (French 75 with Elderflower basically). Han was a champion and helped me finish the sandwich.
Langan's was on the way to our Broadway matinee, Death Becomes Her at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater!
This was my first Broadway show seen in NYC. I'm a fan of the movie it was based on, so I had high expectations. I loved the casting, and I was really impressed by the sets, lightning, soundtrack, and general performance quality. I highly recommend this show if you want to spend a few hours laughing out loud.
Speaking of Broadway, I could have gotten tickets to see Megan Thee Stallion as Zidler in Moulin Rouge if I was on top of ordering them, but I got tripped up with the earlier announcement of her illness and then the tickets were $300 after that...
Dinner time - Sakura Martini, Crab Croquettes, and Tonkotsu Ramen at Sozai.
More. Family. Guy.
Monday
Last day! Went to the closer Laduree and got a Rose Croissant for breakfast.
We had plenty of time before our evening flight, so we spent a good long time at the MoMA. Saw a lot of iconic art in real life! I think my favorite pieces were from Monet's Water Lilies.
A legend:
Finally, I got this really freaking tasty turkey sandwich from Alidoro before we checked out and flew home.
And that's it! What a perfect weekend...
I sat next to many sick people on the flight, so I really hope I'm immune to whatever they had after my cold two weeks ago. I don't want to get sick again :(
Sir was SOOOO happy when I came home. He looks like an impressionist painting from the MoMA here.
