King of New York

Due to my work schedule I found myself having to spend a week in New York, including a weekend.  It was definitely hard to be away from Lynne and the kids that long, but I tried to maximize my time in the city.  Given all I was able to do, including full days of meetings at work, I think that may be an understatement.  Here’s a brief* rundown of my days, including some photos (some with the DSLR, but unfortunately some with just my phone).

*Yeh, this isn’t brief at all, sorry!

Thursday morning I took the train to New Jersey for a small staff retreat, my first time in the state in many years.  That night I headed to Coney Island in Brooklyn with some coworkers.  I had never been, and they had tickets to see the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets) minor league team play.  We enjoyed the game, where I also got see Purdue Boilermaker Kevin Plawecki play.  He was drafted in the first round by the Mets (quite a big deal for Purdue), but I didn’t remember until I saw his name and picture on the scoreboard.  After the game I ate a ton of food at the original Nathan’s Famous, rode the Cyclone rollercoaster, walked the boardwalk, and kicked some sand on the beach.  We then walked down a ways to Brighton Beach, the old Russian-populated area of Brooklyn, for some herring, oysters, caviar, potatoes, and vodka on waterfront.  It was a lot of fun and well worth the hour-plus on the subway

Nathan’s Famous

Brooklyn Cyclones park

Purdue’s Kevin Plawecki

The Cyclone.  We were the last ride of the night at 10:30pm, which made it even more fun.

The Wonder Wheel

On Friday we had a special team lunch at Eataly’s beer garden Birreria. I’ve written about my great trips to Eataly before, but I had never been to the rooftop beer garden due to the long waits in the evening.  Fortunately there was no wait for an early lunch, and we had lots of time to enjoy some amazing small plates and beer.  Through a partnership with Dogfish Head and two Italian breweries, they brew three beers on site and serve them on cask.  Per the waiter’s recommendation, I had a pint of the Gina, a thyme pale ale that was perfectly balanced and delicious.  For our food, we enjoyed the following, all incredibly excellent:

• A cheese plate featuring parmigiano, asiago, taleggio, gorgonzola, and robiola, served with their warm bread and honey to dip
• Probusto pork and beef sausage served with potatoes and mustard greens
• Maitake mushrooms in a cream sauce
• An heirloom tomato salad with some of the best tomatoes I’ve had (outside my own garden of course!)
• A chicken dish I can’t find on their menu right now (must have been a special), but it was juicy, slightly crispy, and perfect

That evening I had a mojito with some coworkers and then walked to the theater district to see a show.  When Lynne came with me to NYC in June, we had a list of shows we were interested in seeing.  One I really wanted to see, One Man Two Guvnors, she wasn’t as keen on, so I figured it would be good to see solo.  It also only had one week left in its Broadway run, so I was thrilled to have the chance to see it before it disappears, likely forever since it centers around one star British actor.  The play is hilarious and won numerous awards when it premiered in London before heading across the pond.  The lead actor, James Corden, even won the Tony this year for best actor in a play. The play is so unique, incorporating music, breaking the fourth wall, and planting humorous things in the audience. (Yes, I realize I quote a song from Newsies in my title, so some of you are wondering why I didn’t see that musical on Broadway. Honestly, I didn’t want to potentially taint my memories of that great film and all the childhood memories it generates, and it’s always more fun to see something you haven’t already watched 50 times before).

On Saturday, I knew it would be a little lonely, so I made sure to have plenty of new activities to do around the city.  I decided to spend some time in Brooklyn, since I usually only get there a couple times a year on weekday evenings.  Also, I decided it would be fun to walk across the Williamsburg Bridge from the East Village.  That was a lot of fun, but it took about 90 minutes, and after an entire day of walking, by Saturday night my feet were in bad shape.

Once I got into Brooklyn, I headed to Williamsburg for Smorgasburg, a fun mini-food fest gathering that happens every Saturday.  It’s right on the waterfront, and the eclectic food selection from many Brooklyn restaurants and food truck staples was a little overwhelming, especially at 11am.  I was met by one of m Brooklyn-ite coworkers who showed me around, and I enjoyed the best doughnut I’ve ever eaten from Dough, fried anchovies from Bon Chovie, and ramp vinaigrette from Right Tasty.

After that, I headed to a special saison tasting at a local bar, a tour of Brooklyn Brewery, and then I hopped the subway to Prospect Park.  This large park in Brooklyn had a completely different feel than Central Park, with more families of all ethnicities grilling out and playing.  I was able to find a quiet spot on the lake to read, and then another local coworker met me for a walk around the park (yep, lots of walking).  We then met up with another colleague for dinner at Brooklyn Fish Camp, where I enjoyed some fried green tomatoes, mussels, and hush puppies.

Even with a fun day in Brooklyn, I had more plans and took a very long subway ride up to south Harlem (Morningside Heights) where a coworker was having an apartment warming party.  I had fun there, but maybe most importantly learned about a fun event I needed to check out the following day.

The view of Manhattan from Smorgasburg

Brooklyn Brewery was packed, but they had some great beer you can’t get in Indiana

Beautiful Prospect Park

A quiet spot near the ducks

On Sunday I wanted to start the day by heading downtown to Battery Park and taking the ferry to Governors Island, basically a large park set up where the army used to be stationed to protect the waterways of New York.  There are still old buildings and barracks there, along with a fort and battery.  Part of the fun in visiting is getting out on the water and getting a good spot to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  After walking around the island (and taking lots of photos), I headed up to Central Park to see my friends Erik and Amanda, who were in town for a wedding.  Yes, Erik and I had just spent some quality time together at a tennis tournament in Cincinnati, but I swear we don’t always plan our travel together.  Erik and Amanda were also celebrating their one-year anniversary, which was apropos because he originally proposed in NYC.  We chatted while they had a caricature drawn, and then we had a late lunch before they headed back to Cleveland.  It was nice to add a trip to Central Park to my itinerary, since I hadn’t planned for that.  Thank goodness for the speedy subway.

Originally I didn’t have any plans for Sunday night, although I knew of a few options for free plays and such.  On Saturday night, thanks to a coworker, I learned about a free music festival in downtown Brooklyn I should attend.  I had never been to that part of Brooklyn, so to make my “all over Brooklyn” weekend complete, I decided to go.  The music festival was called Afro Punk Fest, and it was a blast.  It featured a BMX/skateboarding park where guys were doing stunts, lots of food trucks, and two stages with popular urban artists. I got to see Janelle Monae, who I’m now a big an of, and a band I already liked a lot, TV on the Radio, perform.  Both put on fantastic live shows, and I was glad I made the trip.

A view from the ferry

Downtown Manhattan

Ellis Island

Statue of Liberty

I ran into a couple goats on Governors Island.  Not expecting to see that in NYC.

People enjoying a picnic on the island

The battery

Fort Jay

The Brooklyn Bridge in front and Manhattan Bridge behind

The skate park at Afro Punk

The Empire State Building, as seen from downtown Brooklyn (DUMBO – Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass)

On Monday night, I was lucky enough to win an online lottery for tickets to Shakespeare in the Park, a summer ritual of putting on world-class plays in an outdoor theater in Central Park.  The only way to get tickets is to wait in line for seven hours or enter the daily online lottery.  I tried every day I was in the city, and it was so exciting to win on Monday.  It was even better, because it was the final week of the show, Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, which featured Amy Adams.  I went with a work colleague who was also a musical theater buff, so I learned a lot including some unique things they did in this production.  The cast was phenomenal, and the show was superb.  The Broadway veteran playing the witch sounded quite familiar, and I realized afterwards that she voiced Mother Gothel in the Disney Rapunzel film Tangled.  These are the things you notice when you have a three-year-old.  We enjoyed an evening on the Upper West Side with a fantastic dinner at Vai (some of the best ravioli of my life, and fried artichokes are always a good thing) and drinks at a few local pubs.

Tuesday was my day at the US Open, but I’ll post about that separately.  It was amazing, and I spent the entire day and evening there watching tennis and crossing Grand Slam number two off the list.  If I had to be away from the family for so long, at least I was able to do a lot of fun things to maximize my time away, but I couldn’t wait to get home. The work meetings also went really well, for what it’s worth.

First Friday at Fountain Square

On June 1st Lynne and I headed to Fountain Square for a date night.  I had never been to this part of the city (in 4.5 years, I know that’s pathetic), and a concert was a good excuse to make the trip.  There are lots of great places to eat, and while I researched many, we decided to go to Siam Square for Thai food.  We’re very picky on Thai food in the states, and while Indy has its share of hits and misses, we had heard good things from friends.

We enjoyed some noodle and curry dishes, and overall we thought it was excellent and probably the best/most authentic Thai food we’ve found in Indianapolis.  There are so many other places we want to try in the area, but it will hard not going back to Siam Square.

We had a lot of time to kill between dinner and the show, so we had planned to walk around the area to visit the shops and sights.  Fortunately, it was the first Friday of the month, which is known as “First Friday” in Indianapolis.  The monthly event focuses on the arts in Fountain Square, where there are lots of little galleries, and other parts of the city.  This meant that all the shops stayed open later than normal, so we could check out antique stores, vintage clothing shops, and more.  Little coffee shops featured music and visual artists, and despite the dreary day, the overall vibe was fantastic.

Just south of the main square is the new (just a little over a year old) Fountain Square Brewery, so I made sure we stopped by for a tasting.  Since it was First Friday, the tasting room was packed and had a DJ playing some very loud music.  Fortunately we found seats at the bar, and I enjoyed their Bigger Nuggets double IPA and Eclipse black lager (schwarzbier). I think I’ll enjoy grabbing a pint there more when the music isn’t so loud and you can actually have a conversation.

The concert we were attending was at the White Rabbit Cabaret, a small little venue set up with table seating, seemingly more suited for a comedy show than a concert, but really intimate.  The venue has some decent beer on tap and is a really nice place to catch a show.  There were three acts: CALLmeKat (Danish woman, haunting electro-pop), Brown Bird (folk rock duo), and Rocky Votolat0 (songwriter with a guitar).  CALLmeKat was far better than I expected, and Brown Bird played a really long set that was tons of fun.  Their music would have been even better at a more lively standing-only venue.  I became a fan of Rocky’s thanks to some Pandora suggestions, and he didn’t disappoint.  However, the atmosphere is way more “talking” than “listening” so I actually found it rude that late in the evening the headline performer was slightly drowned out by a drinking, chatting crowd.  Still, for $10 a ticket to see three talented acts, I really can’t complain.

We look forward to returning to Fountain Square for date nights, future First Fridays, and any other excuse, so let us know your favorite FS places!

So GQ

The real highlight of Super Bowl week in Indianapolis was our opportunity to attend the GQ party.  Every year, GQ throws a large invite-only Super Bowl party in the host city.  Did I know this two months ago?  No, but thanks to an amazingly fortuitous work connection a couple weeks prior, Lynne and I found ourselves on the guest list.

The event was held at the Stutz Building, about one mile north of the Super Bowl Village, which kept the event a little mysterious and private.  Co-hosted by GQ and Lacoste, and sponsored by Patron, we knew there’d be a variety of celebrities in attendance, but since it was invite-only, there wasn’t a lot publicized ahead of time since they didn’t need to sell tickets.  All we knew was that QuestLove (from The Roots) was going to deejay, and LL Cool J would be performing.  Just as a frame of reference, buying a ticket to some of the other Super Bowl parties ran $800 - $1,000, and the reviews for those events were quite mixed since people were packed in shoulder to shoulder with little access to the famous folks.

We had a fantastic time at the event.  Celebrities walked the red carpet and got interviewed but then were fairly accessibly to meet.  We didn’t take that many pictures since it was dark and we only had Lynne’s iPhone camera, and honestly, taking pics seemed a little tacky since this wasn’t your average fan event.  They served a lot of decent hors d’oeuvres throughout the evening and sponsor Patron provided tons of fancy tequila cocktails. 

So what celebrities did we meet and see?  When we first arrived, Hines Ward was on the red carpet (I later had the chance to talk with him), and we quickly got our bearings.  The venue wasn’t that large, so it was easy to stand up top in the back and survey to see who you wanted to meet.  As we were doing so, I noticed that directly to my right was Purdue’s Curtis Painter.  I gave him a quick “Boiler Up” and handshake but really had nothing more to say.  I’ve met Painter before, and as we continued to walk around the venue I realized that no one was talking to him, likely because he’s not that famous in comparison, not as recognizable, and people in Indianapolis (who aren’t Purdue fans) probably don’t really like him.

Patron had set up a giant photo studio to get professional photos taken, complete with swanky props and Patron bottles.  We had a lot of fun doing that, and you can see some of the evidence below (way nicer than our iPhone photos).  Lacoste set up an area to create custom screen-printed Super Bowl shirts, so we made a couple and took some home for our generous babysitters who we kept up quite late.

Since Lacoste co-sponsored the event, Andy Roddick, one of their biggest endorsements, attended the event, and as a tennis geek I was quite excited.  I had the chance to say hi a couple times, but you could tell that he wasn’t too excited to be there.  It’s not like he wasn’t having fun (he really enjoyed LL Cool J’s set), he just seemed tired.  His wife, model Brooklyn Decker, on the other hand, might have had more fun than anyone.  She was very nice and apparently quite big pals with Erin Andrews.  Near the end of the evening I did try to get a picture with Erin but got shot down, boo!  She may or may not have been quite intoxicated (trying not to get sued here), and you can see she and Brooklyn have quite the red carpet conversation.  I actually lose major man points as upon her arrival, Erin and Brooklyn walked right past me (I had to help them get to Roddick in the front row), and I didn’t even realize who they were even as Erin stepped on my foot.  That’s how transfixed I was on LL Cool J’s fantastic set that got the crowd really enthused.

Ah, LL, what can we say.  He was honestly the nicest person we met the entire night, and I seriously think he was treated like the biggest celebrity there (maybe that’s due to his two gigantic bodyguards though).  Lynne was able to get a picture with him because he seemed to be the only celeb that it was cool to do that with, and even Roddick was getting his picture with LL.

I also got to meet Greg Jennings from the Packers (took me all night to figure out who he was), guys from The Roots (who were in attendance to watch their boy QuestLove deejay), and Troy Aikman (firmest hand shake of my life).  Troy spent a significant portion of the night chatting with Erin Andrews, quite closely if I might add.  They must be great friends (still trying to be careful not to get sued with what I write here).

Hines Ward didn’t seem to be having too much fun, and it was funny to see him (and others) avoid getting pictures taken with their dates, I suppose to avoid the gossip columns.  I also struck up a conversation with a gentleman as we waited for the restroom, only to discover it was the Lacoste CEO.  Yes, I already reached out to him about connecting with DC.org.

Other celebs we saw but didn’t talk to: JR Martinez (Dancing with the Stars), Terrell Owens, David Arquette, Joe Manganiello (True Blood), Peter Berg, Giants owner Steve Tisch, and former Miss Indiana/USA finalist Brittany Mason. We left as the party was winding down and apparently missed Adam Levine (Maroon 5).

Lynne and I were both disappointed that Jon Hamm (Mad Men) didn’t show up.  We had heard he might attend, and I had prepared a great opening line to meet him, but he got held up at the Playboy party, go figure.

On the way out we ran into Guy Fieri, which was fun, and I gave him a little secret ATO love (he’s an Alpha Tau Omega alum from UNLV), and he totally got it and replied, “You too…brother!”  Overall we both had a great time at this once-in-a-lifetime experience, and Lynne did an admirable job keeping me from looking too stalker-ish.

You can see much higher quality pictures at the GQ site: (you can see Lynne and I in the front left of the first pic, in my tan blazer).

Pictures from the Patron photo booth

Son of Man, anyone?

Walking the red carpet (after all the famous people had)

 

Does “LL” stand for “Lynne Loves” Cool J?  He insisted that his sunglasses be on for every photo, but was far more down to earth when you talked to him

Even Andy Roddick was excited to get his picture taken with LL.  Check out one of his two huge bodyguards staring me down.

Brooklyn Decker looking happy the entire night

  Erin Andrews and Troy Aikman spent a lot of time talking

QuestLove was a great deejay

Having Fun at Work

My most recent trip to New York turned out to be a bit disappointing. Sure, I had a fantastic time with my colleagues, ate great food, and (most importantly) got some important work done to provide support for high poverty schools across the nation. But the let down was all weather-related. I had planned to attend the US Open with friends from work one night, but for both full days I was in NYC, rain caused all matches to be completely cancelled. No Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic for me (heck, I would have been happy just for a Roddick or Fish!), so hopefully I’ll get another chance next year to see my second of the four major tournaments (remember my post about the French Open last summer?).

The previous week I was in Dallas for a satellite media tour kicking off our Limeades for Learning partnership with SONIC Drive-In. The tour included filming 25 (mostly live) TV and radio interviews in a 6 hour span for news stations across the country. I wasn't a big fan of the 4:30am call time, but it was a great experience (no, I'm not linking to any video footage, but if you Google hard enough you can find it). The extra perks of being in Dallas meant seeing one of my former colleagues and hanging out, an amazing dinner at Tom Colicchio's Craft (sorry, their main site is down), and delicious lunch at the Meddlesome Moth.

To top it all off, two of my colleagues were in town last week for a conference and invited me out on the town for their festivities. It’s nice to see an Indianapolis company put on a great show to impress its attendees and clients (mostly coming from the coasts). The first night was a fantastic gala at the Eiteljorg Museum, complete with delicious food and drink. The second night featured special VIP passes to the Katy Perry concert and a post-concert private midnight concert by Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears.

Not being a big fan of pop music, I honestly didn’t know too much about Katy Perry other than she’s married to hilarious comedian/actor. I definitely recognized a handful of her songs and expected a show with high production value and lots of young screaming girls. Both were definitely in full effect, and fortunately the conference had prepared a great pre-concert setup on the Pacer’s practice court (complete with twenty-foot elevated DJ) so that we could hang out somewhere a little more “our age” before the show started (no idea who the opening act was, but I doubt we missed much). For a 30-year-old, the concert was hilarious – I seriously had so much fun being ridiculous and sporting the light-up sunglasses they gave us to wear. What bothered me was how inappropriate Perry’s songs were for such a young audience. There were lots of pre-teens/tweens there (accompanied by a begrudging parent, of course), and the song lyrics, gesturing, and even spoken audience banter were far too mature. Just chalk up another reason to lock Eliza and Matilda in the house once they turn 14 (or sooner? :).

The after-concert concert (confusing, yes) was at the Indiana Roof Ballroom (my first time there), and was an even better show. If you’ve never heard of Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, go check them out right now. I’ll wait. … Awesome, right? A great rock/blues/jam band complete with a baritone and tenor saxophone and trumpet. It was a lot more fun to be right in front of the band, too, and later that night between sets I snuck backstage to meet them all, and they were happy to chat.

Thanks to my awesome colleagues for setting me up with passes to these events. We had a lot of fun, and it was great to see them enjoy Indianapolis!

Tonight's Activities

Tonight we are off to Indy to see Kirk's (& now mine as well) favorite musician BEN HARPER at the Murat! Kirk is very excited. They are doing a more classy performance on this tour so we are dressing up and having a night out on the town! We hope you all have a great weekend enjoying something you love as well (like Purdue football!).

For those of you who have never listened to Ben Harper (w/ or w/o his band The Innocent Criminals), you are really missing out. Kirk was first introduced to them through a fraternity brother. During his freshmen year, one of Kirk's ATO bros from California (where Ben Harper was better known) wanted to go to a concert at Univ. of IL but didn't have a car. He offered a free ticket to anyone willing to drive him. Kirk said he was interested, and after listening to a few songs offered to drive. The show was a small intimate affair and simply breathtaking, and Kirk was hooked for life. Harper is definitely an amazingly talented writer and performer, and his songs vary so much that there is something for everyone (Diamonds on the Inside is my favorite). Check him out (or ask Kirk to send you some tracks)!