4/28-4/30 - Friday Night at Standard, Saturday Night at Roxy, and Always With Friends in the Place II

The Friday end finally arrived. The last day at work for Rene and Donzel and the tearful send offs were all in place. I thought they would do the last hang late in the day but they both left before it got too late and were gone midafternoon. I was still preparing myself for the afterwork hang with Mitzi downstairs at Ole and was very happy to see many had stayed until 7pm and got a few drinks with the guys and girls before I headed back upstairs grabbed my Target bag and headed home. I had finally remembered my full allergy set of not just generic Claritin but also Sudafed which when taken together with the antihistamine calms down my rampant seasonal tree allergies. It only took me two weeks of nose stress and headaches to remember this. Anyway once home I at leftover chicken Caesar salad for dinner and watched DVR programming of "Charmed" before Russ returned from his gym workout and ordered ! his own dinner from Jack's. We watched basketball playoffs and mostly chilled out before Russ went to bed to rest up for his triple header on Saturday. I decided that since I was not planning on being trapped out on the Randalls Island for 3 straight games I would spend the evening getting sufficiently tired out that I could sleep late on Saturday morning. I finished cutting my hair around midnight, took a shower and got my clothes changed and stepped out in the Tommy Hilfiger cargo pants and the G-Unit heavy tee. Address firmly in mind I walked over to the taxi stand and was picked up by a waiting driver on the street who was more than happy to take me into the city at 1:30 am. I arrived at Bassline at Standard around 2am no trouble finding Van Dam at all. (The driver actually knew where the street was and even knew which street to approach to avoid the one-way). I got on line, showed my ID and was inside. The place seemed sm! all at first but I got my drink at the bar and then headed up the spir al staircase and was immediately engulfed in the mass of people populating the upstairs room. Even though there seemed to be no where you could really get out of the direct press of bodies or the line of sight of the speakers the music was not at earbleed levels so anyplace you went you could hear the beats and feel the crowds energy. The place was very packed but I made my way over to the alcove near the DJ booth next to the bar and struck up conversations with Billy Carroll and Chad Jack, two of my favorite DJs to move a crowd. They were both very friendly and Chad even got my email address so he could send me a remix. I split my time between upstairs and downstairs at the bar and got nice and toasty dancing with the crowd but without any real peaks that would wear one out. The crowd was a nice mix of a cross section of Soho types, gay boys, hipster girls and people who thought they were entourage enough to be someplace hip. I only glimp! sed DJ Junior Vasquez on the decks in passing but the beats sounded like him and the crowd was living for it so it was good enough for most. I decided to leave around 4:30 since I was light on alcohol and still had plans for the next night. I was glad I had checked out the space but missed the fact that besides the DJs I did not really see anyone that I knew. I was able to get my coat from coatcheck rather easily and then walked just one block downtown to the next corner and with relative ease I flagged down a taxi that agreed to take me back to BK. The driver was friendly, the ride was quick and cheaper than usual (not as far uptown) and I got home around 5am. Another night on the town handled and I made it back safe and still engaged (in my surroundings).

Saturday I woke up briefly as Russ left the house to go to his games and I caught a few more winks before getting out of bed around noon to hang out in the livingroom and check out what was on the tube. A bowl of breakfast and I was happy to chill out,, watch some DVR programming and then do some shopping on iTunes and watch some Logo programming on travel to Dublin and to Thailand. I also received a call from Amy and fielded a call myself and left a message with Cherie letting her know that I had not heard from her in a while and hoped she was doing well. Russ finally called back late afternoon to tell me the team had one all 3 games. Two come from behind victories and the team was on a high place and very happy. We decided to get burgers at The Good Fork and after printing out directions to Red Hook I ran downstairs hopped into the Murano and we trekked over. I directed right instead of left but then af! ter we turned around we found the hidden section of Red Hook that housed the people eating out and the spot we were looking for. The place was small and for Fridays and Saturdays they require reservations but because we were taking our order to go we just took seats at the bar and waited for the cook up. The burgers were done in short order diner speed and we took our bags and left for home. The burgers were just as good as we expected and we marked it up as worth the trip. The bread was doughy like a fresh baked yeast roll and the burger was juicy and flavorful. We were also happy to have gotten the last ones coming off of the grill due to a developing smoke ventilation issue they had in the restaurant kitchen. Dinner out of the way we relaxed and spent the rest of the evening messing with music CDs and watching basketball highlights. Russ was too tired and too stiff to head out with me so I was going out alone.

I just missed the train and waited at the taxi stand for 20 minutes before a driver pulled up and took me into the city. We discussed gas prices and other current events and I got to the city with no issues as he let me off on the corner of 10th ave and 18th street.

There was a line in front of ROXY but I was able to step over past the main line to the second line and get waved in by Derek. I got my ID checked and then dug in my pocket and picked out a "Spring Storm X" mix CD and enjoyed his look of surprise and a Thank You before I turned and headed inside. After I had my armband and ticket from the cashier I was inside and waited a moment for my coat check friend to return since I knew she was in. She was nice enough to take my coat for me and I headed inside to check out the crowd. One of my friends commented that his friends thought the place was kind of empty but they never had arrived at Roxy so early before so I told them this was the usual and pointed out the crowd around the front bar and behind the couches and at the back bar. I found my bartender Louis at the front bar and even though for some reason he was taking longer to get through his crowd than usual I waited until he was free and said hello. With drink in hand (Absolut Mandarin and Red Bull) I said hello to Erica who had thoroughly enjoyed my "Lighter Dayze" lounge mix CD and I then gifted her with the "DivaSpring" CD. I also said hello to Duane who was also happy to hang and told me he appreciated my intermittent company as we hung out behind the couches for a bit before I went to dance in on the speaker in the asian section. We met up again and wandered back to the front bar to pick up drinks and I spent the rest of the eve trying to move with the maddening crowd and yet not quite give myself over to it. On my way back to the front I ran into Brett and his crowd even though I suspected from friend sitings earlier that he was in fact in attendance. He decided to wait until later for me to get his own copy of the "Spring Storm X" CD and so I did not have to rush out to the coat check just yet. DJ Peter Rauhofer was celebrating his birthday with us this eve but besides snatches of "How Do You Say" and a few other familiar beats such as Wonderbox (Turn Me Over) I did not find the music even close to what he had done for us when he plays in other cities and very reminiscent of the wall of sound approach he did at the Black Party but without the good song selection. Around 2am I also made sure to give Cathy her very own copy of "DivaSpring" when she had a moment between drinking customers and she Thanked me as well. I will have to say that I found a pretty good spot near the stage in the back to watch the performance by Maya (the Offer Nissim vocalist and songwriter) but her songs were a big slowdown from the rest of the beats of the night and she should have just stuck to 2 songs instead of 3 as it seemed to go on for too long. I left the stage area in the middle of the last song (and missed the CD giveaways) but knew I had most of the songs from Star 69 Records that I wanted from that 2-CD anyway. I watched over the crowd for a long while and then headed out to the coatcheck to get Brett's CD and held it in the cargo pocket and went ahead and danced some more. I said hello to promoter Lisa and stepped up onto the box near the door and waited for the music to get better. When I figured out that the music was not going to peak and play anything beyond random snatches of familiar beats but no real vocals I let myself enjoy it anyway and finally lit my hands and danced over the crowd for a bit before finally calling it a night around 5:30 am. Brett had walked up around 5am and said that he was leaving and he was able to walk out with his gift CD then but I tried and waited for the music a little bit more and finally had to give up and go home. After retrieving my coat from the coat check and saying good night to my friend there I went outside and walked over to 10th Ave. The cab pulled up and waited in front of me so I asked him if he was taking passengers and could he go to Brooklyn. I then climbed in and rode all the way home with no stress and fairly quickly. It was already starting to be light out but I really didn't need the sunglasses yet. I got into the house, cleaned up and went to bed. Another Saturday Night all wrapped up.

Sunday Morning I awoke but decided it was too early and slept until after 1pm. I definitely needed the rest after my long weekend but after digging into my delivery breakfast. After that I got dressed up and we piled into the Murano to drive up to Bronx. Russ was visiting with his family for a bit so I tagged along for the ride and to listen to my new Pop CD in the car "Pop and Ride" The tunes were good and except for some pacing at the end I had finalized the playlist for that CD. After the ride up I read the end of my Simon Greene novel and then played Tetris on my DS. On the way back we listened to the CD again and got off of the highway in a crush of traffic (fire near the exit at a fire house) and drive through the neighborhood for a bit before heading over to Dallas BBQ and picking up dinner. The food came pretty quickly and I was back out and headed for home in short order. We watched Fox programming for a bit before catching the Sopranos. After that was over Russ did some work in the office so I watched the movie "Final Fantasy: Advent Children" which was a great CG film that I definitely enjoyed. The movie was well done and I can definitely see some more films by Square to show off animation power that they are. After that was over I settled in to watch DVR programming before finally slowing down my weekend and head to bed. Another weekend through but so much seen and done.

No real down parts with plenty of introspection and involvement with my friends. I look forward to next week with my trip to AC and a long Saturday ahead of me. Like the continued thought on being a force for good in my own sphere of influence. Also am looking to get more serious in my non-work related pursuits. At least one thing finished every day that doesn't have to do with work and everything to a life outside of work. I can waste hours online and doing nothing or I can work to do things that will improve my chances of being among the content and happy in the near future. Keep up the good work.