Randomn3ss » New York City

A Croaking Good Time!

Tracy — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:35:17 +0000

I should start by noting that theater has never much been my thing. I’ve seen Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Avenue Q etc. etc. and I enjoyed them to be sure, but not enough to pay the exorbitant price tag that inevitably goes with them. Here, in New York, I have discovered the masterpiece of theater for those of us whose goal is to drink and have a good time; Flanagan’s Wake.Flanagan has just died and the citizens of his hometown (and you, as a great deal of the play is improv and interactive) have come to speak of the man’s life and mourn his death. The set is simple and comfortable with a pea green paint job and grainy old pictures circling the casket which is conspicuously upside-down. The actors are never without a bottle of Guinness in hand and the bar boasts Guinness on tap. The Guinness is a little steep at $8 a pint, but is a great addition to the atmosphere; they keep the prices simple and no matter what you order it’ll be between $7 and $12.

The actors are required to take audience suggestions as to Flanagan’s favorite song, his life dream, his favorite story and how he died. They do so with excellent good humor and more than once I nearly laughed myself out of my chair. The participation aspect is incorporated well and does not encumber the play with embarrassment or discomfort on the part of the audience members. Suggestions and participations are quick and often simply shouted one word answers to actor’s questions.

If you happen to be in Times Square on a Friday or a Saturday between 5:45 and 6:30 the play is running a bagpiper followed by Flanagan’s casket through the neon madness. I managed to capture a video of it; the man dressed in the priest outfit in front of the casket is Father Murphy, by FAR my favorite character! The fellow at the front of the casket is the play’s producer.

Click here to view the embedded video.

They are currently running promotional tickets for $25, though I do not know how long this will last; regular priced tickets are $49.95. I would inquire through the website directly. http://www.flanaganswakenyc.com/

All in all, this is a brilliant beginning to a drinking night out on the NYC; the show ends around 9:15pm with a bellyful of beer and laughs and there are at least a dozen Irish bars within 2 blocks so if you want to continue with similar thematic elements you will not have any trouble.Similar articles that might also interest you:

Seven Years in America

Adrienne Saia — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:33:54 +0000

Last week, Mike suggested we write about our experiences with or thoughts on the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. I thought about it… where I was (Russian TA session), how old I was (freshman in college – I had just turned 18), who was affected (my roommate and dorm neighbors were from Manhattan; my uncle worked in the Pentagon), and how I felt (outraged, shocked, numb, upset). I had retold the story a hundred times – to friends, mostly foreign and often younger, and mostly on the anniversary of the attacks. I thought about typing it up again, here, but decided it was almost too difficult to articulate. Also, why would my experience be worth reading about? Everyone was freaking out, especially us on the East Coast. I dropped the idea.

Until today.

I was catching up on my Preston and Steve podcasts and listened to the show from September 11. They had an author of a book about the action taken at the Pentagon that day (a story which I agree is overshadowed by the harrowing events in New York City and the legend surrounding Flight 93). A moment of silence was observed, during which all the emotions of that day came swarming back. Those feelings of deep sadness for our nation’s collective loss (loss of life, loss of peace, loss of security) were replaced by the statement’s made next.

While interviewing the author of the Pentagon book, Steve Morrison (co-host of the radio show) made a comment about conspiracy theorists to the effect that to even posit an alternative theory on the events was not only disrespectful to the dead, but made you a stupid human. And this is the most prominent ideological (note: not PHYSICAL) loss to America – the loss of our ability (and perhaps, our will) to question the government.

I’m not saying that I disagree with the standard story of events surrounding 9/11, nor am I a “truther.” The point I am making has nothing to do with my own personal or political beliefs surrounding that day. However, I DO believe that is our right and our DUTY as Americans to question the actions of our government. Why is it suddenly WRONG and UNPATRIOTIC to question authority (and, thus, the authority of the mass news media)? Is it because we’re really that incapable of conceiving that maybe, just maybe, the government killed its own people? Did we forget that this is the same government built out of bloody revolution? The same government who sold arms to Iran and lied about it. The same government who passed a law to listen to your phone calls and read your text messages without a writ of habeas corpus. Yeah – that government.

People who question the events of 9/11 are often compared to those who denied the Holocaust. From what I’ve seen, no one is questioning the fact that the events were horrific and that they did, indeed, occur. That’s not the point. We should be able to question HOW and what our government KNEW (if anything at all) that they didn’t tell us. The freedom to police our government is one of the fundamentals of democracy and shouldn’t be quelled simply because a tragic event occurred. ESPECIALLY now, when the event led to a war (um… that the government admittedly started under false pretenses) is when we should question the motives and methods of our leaders. Even if it leads to a consensus, at least the job was done.

When lives are lost on American soil, it becomes inappropriate to ask “why?” Seems like now, when thousands more Americans are dying in Iraq, all we can say is “why not?”Similar articles that might also interest you:

Casting Calls

Tony Flohr — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:18:06 +0000

Casting calls, er cattle calls…

Dozens of doods in tight designer jeans, tighter shirts with random decals on them and hair that is gelled and frozen in place for weeks. They all sit there sizin one another up with fake smiles and uncomfortable laughs hoping that they will book this one gig that will pay them a grand for 6 hours of work next tuesday so they can spend it on more jeans, hair gel, a shit load of alcohol and some coke that theyll snort in the bathroom of some random dive bar in the lower east side while hoping to get down with one of the girls they met at the afforementioned cattle call.

The girls have their caked make up applied liberally around their faces. Shirt lines give way to low cuts and expose clevage that a porn star would envy. Ive realized something too about all these girls. They all look the same, its all very cookie cutter. Its not even like these girls are especially pretty, they just happen to be very unique looking. Cookie cutter unique. If that makes any sense.

Anyway i sit there with all of them and im always the only one reading a book. Not that it puts me on a pedestal but i do wonder at times whether any of them can actually read because i never see it happen, except to of course when i hear one of them read something from the cue cards like, “mmmm tomato soup!”. Generally they take out their portfolios and google over pictures of one another, seeing who can post their best blue steel.

Eventually five of us are called into a room where one young man sits behind a camera who looks like he would rather be cutting the skin between his fingers with a sharp edge of a piece of paper and then applying lemon juice to the laceration. In other words he is obviously very happy to be here. He then asks us all to take off our shirts and apply a sticker with numbers onto our chests, so we can be further relegated to cattle status. The one thing i notice is that i am the only gentleman in the room with hair on his chest. The four other guys have all waxed their chests and look like that lil 12 year old muscle kid. You know, the one who has the face of a 30 year old and is short and thin like a 12 year old but is built like arnold schwarznegger. So i make the comment “I should have waxed my chest like the rest of you” To which they all actually laugh without realizing im making fun of them.

Its at that point that i realize i might be in the wrong line of work.Similar articles that might also interest you:

Investigate 9/11?

Adrienne Saia — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 12:15:06 +0000

Recently, the internet and some friends have been buzzing about the 9/11 conspiracy-theory documentary Loose Change. Written and directed by 23-year-old Dylan Avery, this documentary posits that the events of September 11, 2001 were perpetrated by the United States government and not Al-Qaida operatives. While there are many 9/11 conspiracy theories out there (ranging from the extreme, neo-Nazi driven to the watered-down Michael Moore versions), this is probably the most coherent alternative explanation for the bizarre and frightening events of that day.

Avery and Co. suggest that the US manufactured the attacks and was the only entity both technologically and financially capable of doing so. Motives of personal greed, opinion polls, and the ability to initiate scrutable foreign policy moves influenced the attack. The filmmakers cite the lack of wreckage, scientific paradoxes (jet fuel doesn’t burn hot enough to melt steel, etc), and refusal of the US government to release specific documents and pieces of evidence (where are the flight recorders?) as their bases for this theory. While the film doesn’t answer every question that the viewer might have, it certainly offers a twist in the way one typically thinks about 9/11. This fact does not harm the overall effectiveness of Loose Change; rather, it only proves that not all theories are water-tight, including the socially-accepted theory that a group of poorly-organized Muslim extremists brought down landmarks of freedom in the most militarily powerful country in the world.

I want to state that I am far from your typical conspiracy theorist. I also want to state that 9/11 conspiracy theorists are NOT anti-Holocaust sympathizers (apparently, according to 9/11 conspiracy websites, this is a typical complaint of standard-9/11-theory proponents and is a common misnomer). I lost people in 9/11 and was paralyzed into a state of fear momentarily as I watched the towers fall on live tv. I now have a man in the Iraq, involved in a war that neither of us believe is right, so I feel especially connected to this issue, as 9/11 has been used as the justification for much of our recent foreign policy. I ache for those affected, because no matter who was at fault, it was senseless and a blow to the American psyche. It should not have happened, but it did. Now, as protectors of free speech and democracy, it’s up to us to demand an explanation of why and how.
The film is currently undergoing a third revision to be released in theaters in the near future. Until then, there is the passable 2nd version, that while intriguing is marred by a too-personal first person narration (the narrator explicitly states his opinion; not only does the audience not care, but we also should be thought clever enough to let the facts speak for themselves). No matter your thoughts on 9/11, I highly suggest that you give 90 minutes of your life to viewing this movie, if only to get other opinions. You can view the 2nd cut free of charge (yes… gratis. They just really want you to see the movie) through the links here (you can choose either Google video or DivX platforms. The resolution isn’t stellar, but it’s, you know, free).

Give the video a shot and leave comments below, or feel free to get at me directly. I’m interested to see what others think or know about this issue! While you’re waiting for it to load, check out these other 9/11 conspiracy-theory sites:

911 Research
9/11 Review (incredibly comprehensive, with links to dissenting opinions)
Physics 9/11 (scientific myths and research)

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Adrienne gets quoted in the NY Post!

Mike Panic — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 01:05:30 +0000

Day before yesterday I received a frantic email from Adrienne, someone had contacted her via MySpace (I�ll never list email addresses here on the site for spam reasons) about her article here on Randomn3ss about banging Bear Grylls.� The person claimed to be a writer for the NY Post and wanted to talk to her on the phone to get a quote for a human interest piece they were doing on the celebrity.� A quick Google search revealed that this was not a prank, it was very much a reality.

Excited, Adrienne sent her phone number via MySpace message and within a few hours got a phone call.� Twenty minutes later, she had given her quotes and hoped for the best.

Today the article was published!� Adrienne got her name published in the NY Post for something she had written here on Randomn3ss!� Big congratulations to Adrienne, please show her some love.

This little bit of excitement goes to prove that while you may only be writing a story or article for yourself, you never know who may be reading it.� Randomn3ss is always looking for more writers, regardless of your skill level, so drop us a line.

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Fat City Reprise rocks NYC

Adrienne Saia — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 20:10:17 +0000

Fat City Reprise is poised for world domination and you are powerless to stop them. And if they don’t get to dominate the world, they at least dominated my liver on this bus trip.

Monday – I get strep throat and a fever.

Thursday, same week – I am on a bus at 3pm with 25 other people drinking bottles of Jack, smoking, and generally carousing around on our way to New York City. This was also after I called out of work that day. And the next.

Who could possibly throw together such a debaucherous affair (gratis, mind you, and one that dragged this feverish amazon out of her death bed) for their friends and fans?? Only the fabulous foursome known as Fat City Reprise (Nick, Mike Vivas, Frankie Pedano, and Jay Miraglia), a Phildelphia-based pop-funk band with a devoted local following. Their songs are catchy and danceable – if you aren’t bouncing around as soon as they plug in, then you should just go on back home because you are not fun. Nick Anastasi, guitarist and Gemini, has described their sound as both “Thrift Store” and “ADD” rock, because the listener is in for almost anything with Fat City – they add stylistic nuances to their songs as to never be boring (and also to stay classy, Philadelphia).

FCR has been together, albeit in several incarnations, for the past four years. The most recent grouping has been together for only slightly more than a year, but the guys all grew up in the same neighborhoods and ran in the same social circles (sometimes without even knowing it). You can tell, just by being around them, that they share a connection that runs deeper than the music (and certainly deeper than the allure of fame). Maybe it seems like that because they’re not constantly at each other’s throats; I’ve learned from observation that bands have more drama than all 4 years of my being in a sorority combined, and these guys have had their share in the past. But they’ve got a solid line-up and a solid bond and the future is where it’s at. FCR recently released their debut self-titled album after a year of preparation (and anticipation). Although the album is impeccable in the quality of the music, is well-produced and complete in its track list, FCR is a band that MUST be seen live. There’s an intangible quality to their live performance that doesn’t quite translate to the CD… I feel like you used to be able to say this about far more bands back in the day, but now it seems like the powers that be in Hell.A. focus on polishing a “shiny penny” of an album rather than touring the singer or group. Plain and simple – a lot of bands suck live. Fat City is not one of those bands. Not even close.

The show/night of drinking in question was held at Kenny’s Castaways in the Village on Bleeker (actually, I don’t know for sure if it’s in the Village – I don’t know NYC that well… mostly because my NYC-born friend Dee is always pushing my drunk ass into cabs and just magically knowing where to go and I just have to be, well, drunk and funny). Kenny’s is kind of like a western saloon but with a both a leather-clad rock biker and the cheap British version of Jared Leto running the bar. They also have the worst Red Headed Sluts imaginable.

Naeemah kicked off the show. This is the second time I’ve seen her live (the other times being during Tuesdays at Grape Street) and that girl just rocks out. She has this really pretty voice – there’s something delicate and precise about it, yet it’s a trumpet – girl can wail – and you can tell she is just having fun doing her thing. Gotta tell you too – sounds great with a drum kit behind her.

Fat City came on next, sometime between the shots of Jaeger (thanks Victoria… or was that my fault?) and the shots of Jack (that was definitely my fault). I had not seen these guys play plugged in before and – holy shit – they rocked my face off. Literally, there were bits of face everywhere, it was simultaneously disgusting and awesome. This was definitely one of the most raucous shows I’ve seen them perform – sweat’s flying, Nick is playing like his fingers are on fire, there are chicks dancing everywhere. One of the things my musically-untrained ear appreciates so much is the fact that they play so well together and no individual instrument overshadows another. On the same note, each band member exudes such high energy that you’re not simply focused on Frankie’s pretty face, but on Jay (a silent character, but deadly mofo on the drums) doing his thing, the Vivas dance, and Nick on his knees like a white Hendrix. Amazing, guys. Well done.

I would write here about the various legal and illegal activities that took place on the bus outside the bar, but my memory is kind of fuzzy and I’d like to not get arrested. Bottom line – if you can get on a tourbus without taking it to the face, do it. It’s awesome.

If you’re on the East Coast, especially the Philly area, check out the Fat City Reprise MySpace and official pages, then get your ass out to Grape Street on a Tuesday night to see them. Their next big show is with IKE, Naeemah, and more bands at the TLA on Saturday, June 16 (I, sadly, will be at Bonnaroo) – check their pages for ticketing info (they are cheap and still available, so stop being a puss and go).

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Another reason why kids need leashes

Adrienne Saia — Wed, 16 May 2007 13:04:35 +0000

I’m entirely too hungover to read the news and come up with something erudite this morning, so I’m going to repost this YouTube video of some stupid ass child running into a breakdancing routine.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I mean, I realize that kids run around willy-nilly because they don’t know any better and as soon as you figure out how legs work, you’re off like a speeding bullet. I am sure I gave my mom years worth of migraines running up and down the aisles at church (at least I didn’t immediately burst into flame like I would if I set foot in a church now). But I’m entirely over little kids being allowed to run around like hellions. I work part-time in retail in a bi-level store and cannot tell you how many times I’ve rescued some kid before they go ass over noggin down the steps because their irresponsible parents are too busy trying on $80 Nike workout capris to notice.

So, put your kid on a leash or use a condom.

Thanks to Gawker.com for first look at the vid.Similar articles that might also interest you:

Every ad in Times Square

Mike Panic — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:50:52 +0000

So you cant make it to Times Square to see what all the fuss is about? No problem, check out every advertisement that is in Times Square. Pretty amazing that someone went to this length to document this, as I’m sure it will change fairly often.

It is not a total replacement for visiting, there are no bums asking for money and you cant hear 20 different dialects being spoken in the same time, nor the feeling that everyone is in a rush, from this site. Everyone should visit New York City at least once in his or her life.Similar articles that might also interest you: