Rooftop Midsommar

Happy (belated) start of Summer! I know, I know--two days late, but who said we can't celebrate the official kick-off of beach season all week long? Super Moon knows what I'm talking about.

To celebrate the summer solstice, because he is hip & cool and does things like mark the celebration of solar calendar holidays, my friend John Travis and his roommates invited peeps over to the roof deck of their apartment building for an official "Midsommar" party (the traditional Scandinavian spelling according to google) complete with a towering Swedish maypole.

In true John Travis style, he and several others built the maypole with their own ten hands and $120. In case you don't know John, he likes to build things. In college, to spruce up an otherwise plain porch at the off-campus house he and a few classmates shared, John constructed fully-functional saloon doors that swung in and out making visitors feel like Clint Eastwood out of a scene from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. So this epic maypole was no surprise. In case you're curious about making your own, beware the streamers. I'm told they spent over four hours constructing them!

John's apartment building, located just a few subway stops over the river in Williamsburg, provides amazing views of Manhattan. Especially at sunset, which was conveniently timed to just as we arrived!

Being the incredible hosts that they are, John & his roomies (plus girlfriend Rachel!) had whipped up a full spread of homemade salmon lox + potato salad, grilled spicy sausage, a whole spiked watermelon, plus party favors in the form of flower head wreaths and bracelets. No detail overlooked, I tell you.

I tried very hard to showcase the flower bracelets at all times.

Of course, with a bona fide maypole in our midst, an awkward photo shoot was inevitable, during which we struggled against unpredictable billowing streamers.

The maypole dancing continued well into the night, long after the sun dipped below the horizon. And let me tell you, posing with streamers is exhausting. By the end of the night, with the rest of the party still in full swing, I snuck off to "nap" until the others were ready to head home. Thankfully, Kristin managed to capture the moment beautifully.

Thank you John, Max, Greg, Jake and Rachel for having us!

Tweet Pin It Now!

Googa Mooga

A few weekends ago, Kevin and I and our friend Peter traipsed out to Brooklyn in the drizzling rain to The Great Googa Mooga. Despite its vaguely google-ish sounding name, Googa Mooga is actually a food festival in Prospect Park that takes place over three days with 85 restaurant and food vendors, 100 wine/beer sellers and live music performances. In their own words, an amusement park of food, drink and music.

We headed out for the day on Saturday, and despite the rain joining in for the festivities, didn't let that stop us from stuffing ourselves silly.

Walking into the festival is a bit daunting. With an overwhelming amount of food stands lined up end to end, each filling your nose with a thousand different mouthwatering wafts of deliciousness, it's difficult to know where to start. Considering my compatriots were two "growing" boys, we inevitably made a beeline for the BBQ/pork/meat area, clearly marked by a massive smoke-spewing cast iron pig appropriately named Hamageddon.

Peter and Kevin kicked things off with marbled rye cheddarwurst & carmelized onion sandwiches from Pork Slope, while my nose led me to Fatty 'Cue's barbeque pulled pork.

Don't let the pulled pork's unimpressive looks deceive you, my nose did not lead me astray! The boys also scarfed down smoked bacon spicy-slaw sandwiches, which made the briefest of appearances next to my pulled pork below, but that's all I could manage to snap before every last crumb disappeared.

Having thoroughly gorged ourselves on enough pig-related food to last a lifetime (gross), next it was on to fried chicken from Blue Ribbon. Kevin was the least excited for this leg of the eating journey.

As you can see in the next sequence of photos, the fried chicken literally stunned them into belly-contented silence. No actual words were spoken. Only grunts of approval and continuous munching.

During the fried chicken bonanza, a little stand by the name of Free Bread called out to me. A simple warm & gooey toasted PB&J? Yes, please!

Several napkins and finger licks later, we waddled over to the main stage as the band Matt & Kim came on. If you've ever seen Matt & Kim live (my first time!), then you know, they put on a party not just a show.

Launching into their set, the crowd immediately went wild, jumping and cheering, and before we knew it someone pitched themselves up into the hands of the crowd and the throng turned into a mosh pit. I've never "moshed" before in my life (too afraid of getting dropped and trampled!) and wasn't about to start now, so instead of sharing some thrilling action shot of me being whisked along over the heads of the throbbing crowd, I'll share these strangers doing it instead.

Even Kim got out there!

As the concert wound down, and the moshers dispersed, our uncomfortably full bellies slash food comas set in. But seeing as how we were in Brooklyn, at the equivalent of foodie heaven, fresh off an indie darlings Matt & Kim concert, I couldn't resist giving my best shot at blending in with the hipster locals before heading home. How'd I do?

.

Tweet Pin It Now!

Poster Metropolis

As most of you are probably unaware (all five of you lovely readers), since I go to great lengths to hide it, Kevin is an avid movie poster hoarder collector. His collections arrive weekly (ok that's an exaggeration...I think) in shiny tubes which are then carefully stored in the back of his bedroom, stacked vertically side-by-side, for eventual framing and displaying (one day). I have dubbed this area the “poster metropolis,” with its various levels of tube heights resembling the skyline of a booming cosmopolitan town. Always growing, seemingly without end. Actually, a more appropriate analogy might be a Sim City nightmare come to life, but I'll let you decide.

With that said, there's a small gallery in Williamsburg called The Bottleneck Art Gallery that showcases original prints and pieces from contemporary poster artists around the country with different collections every few months. Naturally, when the latest show opened a couple weeks back, we were just dying to check it out. And by we, I mean Kevin. I dutifully tagged along :) The current exhibit, entitled "The Popular Face of New York," features work by the artist Chris Thornley (known as Raid71) that takes inspiration from classic New York-centric movies like King Kong, Godzilla and Taxi Driver. 

Getting to and from Brooklyn is never as simple as you expect despite the actual distance between the boroughs being less than a mile. Let's just say this particular journey across the river involved a lot of aimless waiting, mistaken train platforms, missed trains, and more waiting. I considered documenting this portion of the night, but furrowed brows and frustrated grimaces do not a good photo make. After finally emerging in Brooklyn, we made our way to the Bottleneck, where our recent travel woes were immediately forgotten and replaced with enthrallment... for one of us at least.

  
As we walked around the gallery, Kevin tried to introduce me to new terminology like “variant” (the variation on an original print, usually using different colors; e.g. the two Godzillas above) and “metallic ink” (do you care?), but most of it drifted over my head...I mean, completely registered, Kevin.  

 

 

 

 

By the end of our perusing, self-described patron of the arts Mr. Schneider walked out with five new posters.  New housing developments for the booming metropolis!  

.

Tweet Pin It Now!