Le Weekend

Had a blast in the Big Apple. Big Red and Leesha were kind enough to let us crash for a couple nights in their condo at 52nd and 1st Ave. They're a block from the water, from a nifty dog run park, and from every kind of good eats you can imagine (including Tal's Bagels--City Guide Best Bagels in NYC 2005, and a cheese shop rated by Forbes as Best in the World 2003).

Cha and I walked from their place over to the Frick Friday. In three dozen visits to NY I'd never been to see their grand collection, featuring Vermeers, Rembrandts, a Van Eyck, some Turners, Whistlers, tons of Gainesborough and Reynolds, El Grecos, Titians, Holbeins, Veroneses, etc. I do wish they'd hit up their big donors for a new lighting design (Yahtzee should give them his card), because exactly ONE of their paintings was lit adequately--a nice Memling portrait with a piano sheet music lamp glaring down on it from six inches away.

After, we strolled along the Park to the Neue, another gallery I'd never seen. The woman at the desk said that the third floor was closed because of a show installation, and when we balked at the $20 fee to see a half a gallery, she slipped us our $20 back and whispered "It's a reduced entry fee today," putting herself between her supervisor and our money. Nice! Even half a Neue show was fun--they have some fine Klimts and plenty of Schieles in the permanent collection. Love those Klimt sketches entitled "Nude Reclining to the Right" and "Woman Relaxing in a Chaise Lounge." So bland considering the actual subject matter.

We spent much of Saturday eating. Big Red and Leesha had been talking up the dim sum at The Golden Unicorn in Chinatown for ages; at last we got to go. Worth the wait! That place is fucking insane, and the food is fast, cheap, and delicious. We made pigs of ourselves for a total tab of $65--that's four people. Cha and I regularly spend that on sushi for two in Towson.

Big Red showed me stills from his Roger Waters tour animations. Apparently Rog asked him to come to London to help continue editing, but Big Red said he'd had enough, and knew he'd end up stuck following Rog around Portugal and Spain during the first weeks of the tour.