Day 4: NYC pt. 1
Welcome
Yesterday I arrived in New York City to join the rest of the band. We had a session at Sirius XM followed by some recreation.
I awoke in the window seat of an Alaskan Airlines Boeing 737-800 to see a blood orange sun rapidly climbing over the horizon. Out over the General Electric CFM56 high-bypass turbine mounted on the port wing I could see the Long Island sound extending up towards New Haven, its many bays and jagged inlets forcing their way inshore.
The approach into JFK took us over Jamaica Bay providing a splendid view of the sprawl of Brooklyn and the Manhattan skyline. We were wheels down around 6am which I felt right up my spine from the rather forceful landing. Still barely awake I stumbled off the plane and after looking at my transport options decided to head towards the irresistible-looking JFK AirTrain, whose guide-way viaducts towered over the pickup area in which I was standing.
Just above the port engine nacelle you can see the Broad Channel Drawbridge, a through truss bridge which carries the Rockaway Line across Jamaica bay. In the distance the skyscrapers of Manhattan are visible.
The AirTrain.
The AirTrain carried me to Howard Beach Station, a journey that took about ten minutes and allowed me to easily catch the A train into downtown Brooklyn.
Howard Beach Station.
I was feeling famished when I finally emerged from the steamy hot Jay St Station so I immediately set out in search of a breakfast. I ended up a few minutes down the road at a deli where I ordered a ‘Champion’ sandwich containing eggs, cheddar cheese, crispy bacon, avocado, and hash brown.
Feeling slightly more human I made my way to our hotel and hurriedly checked in managing to grab an hour of sleep before it was time to leave for our radio session. The F train was our vehicle of choice and we lugged our instruments down the steps and through the turnstiles to the subway eventually ending up in Midtown, Manhattan where it was a couple of blocks walk in the sweltering heat to get to Sirius HQ.
The higher the better is what we say to one another when choosing spaces in which to perform. Our studio in Auckland, New Zealand, is on the first floor. And roughly 64m above sea level. Yesterday’s performance was on the 36th floor of the 1221 Avenue of the Americas building, roughly 119m above street level. Definitely not as impressive as the 220m high observation deck of Auckland’s Sky tower but at the same time nothing to scoff at.
The 1221 Avenue of the Americas building.
Ready to play at the Sirius session.
We set up in the Sirius XM ‘Fishbowl’ - a small studio space enclosed in plate glass walls. After sound-checking we met the host Alan Light who was friendly and welcoming, providing just the right amount of affirmation for the blog, as well as a string of engaging questions for the band. We performed our three songs to the best of our sleep-deprived abilities and headed back to Brooklyn on the F.
The cameras in the Sirius studio which both surveil and document the performances.
On the F train after the session.
After a couple of hours rest/blogging it was time for Tringo and Benjs’ Jazz night. We headed back to the island of Manhattan, and made our way to Greenwich Village, where the Peter Evans Ensemble was playing at The Stone. This gig was astoundingly good with the world’s best trumpet player Peter Evans putting together a face melting band of musicians including Alice Tessyier (Flute/voice), Immanuel Wilkins (saxophone), Nick Jozwiak (bass), Levy Lorenzo (percussion), and Sam Pluta (live electronics). I wasn’t allowed to document this gig but you can check them out on youtube or bandcamp.
As soon as we had finished applauding for Peter Evans we rushing out of the theatre and jogged for five minutes to get to the next gig at the Village Vanguard. Guitarist Julian Lage was playing with Jorge Roeder and Dave King. This group played a mixture of standards and original material and sounded incredibly slick, dynamic, and propulsive.
Back at the hotel we ended the evening on a high with a healthy dose of hotel television. While we did turn the set on intending to check in on shark week we ended up watching SharkFest, the month long festival happening on National Geographic. This festival which is in its 9th year is happening concurrently with Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, now in its 33rd year. Happy to have an overwhelming of amount of brand new shark programming at our fingertips we fell asleep almost instantly.