| I love when it rains in the city, but not the kind of rain you might be thinking about. The rain has to have character and the temperature needs to be right for a true Rainy Day. The best rain washes the city anew and gives it a slight sparkle. Rain in NYC also gives you that rare chance to wear a coat, nice boots, and carry a stylish umbrella. There is this understood notion in the city, that you always have to appear as if you put thought into what you do and how you present yourself. The best chance to show off your NYC charm/style is on a rainy day.
Tonight the Supper Squad has gathered at Vik’s Noho.
| So here is the rundown – we tried several of the apps (4), 2 pastas and a pizza. The carrots were to die for, a vegetarian dream, but my favorite was the Borsa “Little Purse” pasta stuffed with ricotta, hazelnut, and lemon sauce. They also had a very nice wine selection. I would recommend sitting at the back of the restaurant near the kitchen as there is a glass skylight area that is nice and bright.
| I started today out with the intent to play some PokemonGo in Soho. I ran my battery down to zero so I started shopping.
I was doing a good job at resisting my shopping compulsion until I saw a 5 foot long pair of Diesel Black Gold jeans hanging at the Diesel Soho store. Needless to day I was intrigued, and was convinced to try them on. The DBG 2614 are really quite cool. They are made to bunch as you wear them and have this texture that I could never achieve on other jeans. They are lightweight and stretchy, so easy to bunch how and where you like. I found that If I bunch them over my entire leg they do slightly drift down as the day goes on. On a side note I bought a matching short sleeve button down and shorts from Club Monaco just for a laugh and ended up really liking them.
Pride weekend always seems to begin the same way: with a door half-open to the night, a hallway that feels too small for the amount of anticipation in the air, and a few cups raised like a quiet agreement that we’re going to remember this.
In the middle of it all, there’s that bright, slightly unreal glow—colors louder than they look in daylight, laughter that ricochets off the walls, and the sense that the weekend is already moving faster than you are. Hell’s Kitchen has its own weather: warm bodies, music leaking through floors, and the pulse of the city pushing in from the street.
This is the part before the big crowds and the parade routes, before schedules and meeting spots and “text me when you’re close.” It’s the beginning-beginning. A small room where friends lean in, where outfits feel like declarations, where you can catch a glimpse of yourself in someone else’s grin and think, yes, this is why we came.
By tomorrow there will be glitter in places you can’t explain and a hoarse voice you’ll wear like a souvenir. Tonight is simpler. Tonight is just the start—three people framed in a quick photo, the kind you take without planning, the kind that ends up meaning more than you expect.
| The first BBQ of the season on Ken’s patio. We had soooooo much food and soooooo much booze. It was a good first attempt with potential to get better. We even had the memorial day spirit with some American themed sliders.
The idea was simple, Mikey and I would goto the Manus x Machina exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on mother’s day morning to avoid the crowds. We also viewed Pergamon marble work and Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun paintings among our short meandering path between the lot.
| @ThePlazaHotel #champagne #momsbday #classyinteriors | ??? | I frequent the Champagne bar at the Plaza a few times a year. However, after a bit of a muted note at Patsy’s Italian restaurant, I was relieved that I scheduled a table at the Champagne bar for my mother’s birthday evening.
| “Zach, I want to take your mom out for her birthday when you visit. Do you remember that place you watched on FoodNetwork with your mom, when you were home last, that she wanted to try?”
Salvation Burger does not fall short of its heavenly reputation. Being the burger connoisseur that I am, there is never a need for an excuse, but always a constant quest to eat a great burger!
The Armory Show 2016 ~ the opulence pursuit of an artistic income wrapped in Afrocentric marketing and the allure of a selfie driven experience.
The Armory Green Wall + Alexandra KehayoglouAlba and work by Mika Tajimaby Ross Blechner & Kay Hassan4 bells and mirrors
The Armory Show 2016 Overview
After contemplating, attempting, and never successfully attending, I was finally able to experience The Armory Show, courtesy of Aesop and a contest I won. The experience was pretty overwhelming, and if not for my friend, Alba, it would not have been as fun.
Luckily, we had a pre-purchased ticket and were able to walk directly into Pier 94 and skip the line of 200 people waiting to purchase a ticket. I have attended other events at Pier 94, but this was by far the best setup I have seen. We started by checking our coats (it was warm, this was a must) and having a glass of bubbly at the Pommery Champagne Bar. We worked the show clockwise, which was a pretty solid plan, and about an hour in we stopped at the Mile End Deli for a lunch break.
Eventually, we arrived at the African Perspectives Focus, which sadly, was barely a blip on the radar in relation to the whole show. The most notable and striking Afrocentric mentions were the paintings by Kehinde Wiley sprinkled throughout the building. The Modern section featured sketches by Picasso for sale, and by my internal tally, the average price of work throughout the show was about 250k. All said and done, we took 4-5 selfies (+ derecognized), spent the price of tickets in food, took 3 hours to get through the entire show, and left with a line of 2000 people waiting to get in around 3pm.
People of the Armory Show
As you would expect in this type of event, there was the normal mix of :
old school New Yorkers, strange and pleasant
art students with strange colored hair and dingy appearance
industry professionals dressed in their skinniest black
your favorite middle-aged upstate New York couples
I have to say my favorite group was the upstate crowd, all with the appearance of Michael Douglas and a trophy wife looking like Andie MacDowell. I have also never seen so much leather apparel at an art event—it was like at rodeo robbed of the horses and color.
Behind the Scenes
A saving grace from all the over-production and sticker shock was a beautiful view of the piers and upper west side Manhattan.
