Feelin' the Burn

April 26, 2008

The best thing about living in New York is the endless opportunity to see some of the world's finest talent. I've been able to take in a good dose of Broadway plays and musicals in the past while, and time after time, I continue to be in absolute awe of the calibre of talent that is being presented live on stage. Virtuoso's at the forefront of their respective crafts, if you will, thrilling and stunning audiences night after night.

I'll rarely pass up a free ticket, even if it's a ticket to a concert featuring a world-class group of musicians that I had not previously heard of. This past Thursday, myself and fellow Turtle Julie, attended Bowfire - The Total String Experience at the historic Beacon Theatre in Manhattan's Upper West Side. A leading venue for top rock concerts, having seen headlining acts like Bob Dylan, Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones rock the stage over the years, Julie and I had little idea as to what we were in for.

Bowfire is composed of ten exceptionally gifted fiddle and violin musicians that sure know how to create a high quality music experience. Taking the audience on a musical journey of Jazz, Classical, Bluegrass, Celtic and Rock, combined with impressively entertaining step and tap dancing (did I mention they were multi-talented musicians who effortlessly fiddled and tapped at the same time?), made for one smokin' hot evening of entertainment. By the end of the night, the chosen venue could not have been more appropriate... Bowfire rocked out a wicked rendition of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir for their encore performance.

Chewing on spicy cinnamon gum (an apt choice of flavor to keep with our firey themed evening, not to mention our über-spicy Thai food prior to the concert) may have failed to keep our jaws from dropping to the floor throughout the concert, but the newly fueled inspiration we both left the concert with, gave us the fabulous idea to create our own spectacular high-energy stage show. Picture this... dueling-pianos, a spinning stage, with pyrotechnics and laser lights ablaze. The name? Fingerfire, but of course.

http://www.bowfire.com/

Check out Bowfire!

Streets of Philadelphia

April 22, 2008

If you ask any seasoned New Yorker how often they like to escape from the constant and flurried movement and activity of this city, you're bound to hear the same response time and time again... "get out of here as often as you can... if not, well, good luck trying to stay sane."

In the days leading up to this past weekend, I found myself quickly rising to my tolerable level of perturbation. The slightest and most ridiculous things were getting under my skin, agitating me beyond belief. Maybe it was just a case of spring fever, maybe I'm more homesick than I once thought, or maybe I was becoming just too annoyed with the kitchen cockroaches who like to pay me a daily visit while I enjoy my breakfast. Whatever it was, I was desperately due for an escape.

Leaving the city of culture took me to the city of ideas and firsts... the country's first capital and the site of the first public bank, hospital, public newspaper and stock exchange, to name a few. Philadelphia welcomed me not only with scorching 30 degree Celcius weather, but also with a completely different feel and vibe from what I've become accustomed to in the past eight months. Though the City of Brotherly Love may be in a stage of hip and urban reinvention, I have to admit that despite walking all over the map, from the Museum District to Penn's Landing, the Old City Historic District to the upper crust Rittenhouse neighborhood of resolute old money, not every city can be a walker-friendly city like New York.

Getting away, even if it was just for a couple of days, certainly helped to shallow the waters of the pool of turmoil New York can very easily push you into. But since I was getting a little tired of treading water, it felt surprisingly good to be able to walk it all out in new and unfamiliar, but at times, shady territory. My initial impressions of the city may not take me back there anytime soon, but realizing I ceased to sample the quintessential Philly Cheesesteak, I could be visiting again at some point in the future. I'll be sure to rent a car though next time... some of those city streets just aren't meant to be walked alone.

City Hall, the largest municipal building in the country

View of Philadelphia's skyline and City Hall in the distance

The Philadelphia Museum of Art's monumental staircase, famous for its appearance in Rocky

Elfreth's Alley, the oldest residential street in the Nation

Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was debated and adopted

The Liberty Bell - an international icon of freedom and independence, and its famous gap, which was the result of an attempt to fix a crack which destroyed the bell's tone

The Benjamin Franklin Bridge arching over the Delaware River

Energizer Turtles

April 13, 2008

Putting in nearly 24 hours of work over the course of two days is a tad much, to say the least, but when it's for a good cause, well, there's not a whole lot one should complain about. This past Friday and Saturday played host to Turtle Bay Music School's 4th Annual Perform-a-Thon, our premier fundraising event wherein Turtle Bay students, staff, faculty, alumni and members of our community gathered together to participate in two exciting days of non-stop music making. From trumpet to cello, harp to violin, and guitar to piano, performers of all ages and abilities but their best music notes together to ensure that everyone who walks through Turtle Bay's doors, is able to achieve their greatest musical potential.

This event has long been a cornerstone fundraising opportunity to help the School raise funds for music scholarships, provide financial aid to underprivileged but deserving young students, enhance our public school music programs which annually provide music education to more than 1,300 public school students throughout the five boroughs of NYC, and continue to grow our unique community outreach program, The Saturday Music Project. This new music initiative provides families with little or no access to music, with two years of music appreciation classes and instrument instruction, free of charge.

At the end of it all, the hard work and team effort from everyone at the School made the event a huge success. And while it was difficult to get up off of the chairs that we all collapsed on when the two-day event finally came to an end, I'm sure we all would have liked to get up and click our heels at the initial count for our grand total - over $14,000 - not bad at all for a small community music school with a big heart. We are, afterall, just turtles who keep performing and performing and performing...

Performing at the Perform-a-Thon with my awesome teacher Paula. In only my 3rd performance of my 6 months playing the violin, my nerves got the best of my bowing... the sound resulting from my shaky arm surely gives a whole new meaning to the musical term vibrato.

Prairie Girl Adventures

March 30, 2008

Alas, spring break. While most city dwellers were gearing up to get out of this place, I was dusting off my tour guide cap to welcome my good friend Tawnya to the city that never sleeps. Despite having seen most everything New York has to offer, it was very exciting for me to re-experience the sights and sounds of my chaotic surroundings with someone who was seeing it all for the very first time, getting their initial reactions to an environment that can be summed up in one simple word... crazy.

Our touristy adventures led us uptown, downtown and all over town. From the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island Immigrant Museum to window shopping along Madison Avenue, strolling through SoHo to absorbing some breathtaking views of the city from the Top of the Rock, taking in an Islanders hockey game from the nosebleed section (mental note: don't move down to 100-level seating during the 1st intermission... you'll only be made a fool of) and being blown away by the enthralling Broadway talent in Spring Awakening, were just some of the highlights of an unbelievably fun, but indeed fatiguing week in the Big Apple for two true prairie girls at heart.

I'm running out of words to describe how truly worn out this city leaves you... but I'm certain Tawnya would be able to tell you first-hand not only what it's like as a first-time visitor, but also what it's like to live it on a daily basis. She left here completely exhausted and drained, surely looking forward to returning to her spacious, comfortable and slower-paced surroundings and I can't blame her... in fact, I was really a tad envious! Here you long for a day of peace, quiet and space, a morning to sleep in without waking to the noise of sirens, horns and your neighbors upstairs bickering at the top of their lungs, and hope that just one day, ONE day, be granted enough elbow room to not feel like cattle being herded from one pen to the next. Not until you physically experience it will you really believe it.

Kudos though to my good friend for being such a great trooper! Not a single complaint to my jam-packed itinerary of sight-seeing and galavanting... ok... maybe just one, but we were both getting a little cranky over how many hundreds of stairs we were climbing each day, in and out of the subway. She and I both could use another break to recover and unwind from our spring break, but when you spend it in NYC, there's no such thing as a relaxing vacation!

Mmm... the best pretzels ever!

The spectacular Statue of Liberty

View of the Empire State Building and Lower Manhattan from the
Top of the Rock

View of Central Park, the Upper West Side and Upper East Side from the Top of the Rock

You definitely see it all in this city... The Naked Cowboy in Times Square

Prairie girls really love their hockey... our view of the Islanders and Penquins from the very back row of the stadium!

... And we also love cars... One hot Ferrari at the
New York International Auto Show

End of an Era

March 15, 2008

One of the most famous sporting venues in the United States and third-oldest stadium in the Major Leagues will soon be closing its doors, once and for all, after one last season of ballplaying on some truly hallowed grounds. Historic Yankee Stadium will play host to the legendary Bronx Bombers for it's 85th and final season before bidding farewell to the most successful franchise in North American professional sports history. Luckily the Yankees won't have to venture very far to their new home... in fact, they'll just have to cross the street, where the current generation of baseball players will have their own awe-inspiring opportunity to play in a new park, becoming new legends.

With my Dad (a.k.a. 'die-hard Yankees fan') in town for an overdue visit, there was no question that a Yankee Stadium tour would be at the very top of our "to-do" list. Having himself played semi-pro baseball back in his prime, my Dad was fully and completely in his element once again but on a much grander scale. Taking a seat in the press box and yankee dugout, getting an insider's glance into the infamous clubhouse and walking the field (ssshhh, don't tell, but we scoffed a few slivers of holy grass from the infield between home and first base), were highlights of a tour that left my mouth dry at the extensive chronology of historic and storied events that have taken place within those stadium walls. If only walls could talk.

It seems only fitting that the park will showcase some of the world's best players this July in the 79th All-Star Game, and perhaps even see a World Series Championship celebration in October, given the rich tradition of post-season action the stadium has seen since its opening in 1923. Quite the spectacle that would be... chalking up a 27th in the history books for a team who clinched 16 of those in a stadium that will sadly be razed, but fortunately replaced with a park and a number of playing fields for youngsters with a passion for baseball to play on their own field of dreams. Because as the saying goes... if you build it, they will come.

In the grandstands of Yankee Stadium

My beyond-thrilled Dad in the Yankee Dugout

View from the Press Box

The concourse level of the Stadium

The Stadium has a capacity of over 57,000

Yankee Stadium: "The House that Ruth Built"

The Yankee's retired numbers in Monument Park

The Facade, running along the bleacher billboards and scoreboards

The New Yankee Stadium, slated to open for the 2009 Season

The interlocking 'NY': one of the most recognizable insignia's in sports, and perhaps the world

Grab Your Scalpel!

March 2, 2008

It's been awhile since my last post... maybe I myself just can't keep up with this digital generation that us creative twenty-something's find ourselves immersed in everyday... that and the fact that turning 25 just one month ago may have had more of a brain-draining effect on me than I had once anticipated it would! You know the feeling... where you start to question every single aspect of your life to the point that you wake up every day with a headache because your mind just won't stop racing... ok, maybe not. Well it's a new month, the winter- and getting-older blues are seemingly starting to fade, and my mind is gradually starting to clear of the constant 'what am I doing with my life?' concern, to finally allow me a surge of mental energy to do other things... like blog.

Today I ventured all the way down to Lower Manhattan to attend an unique exhibition that took me way back to my early days of university. Ahhh.... the glory days of being a Phys Ed student. Surely we had more fun than any other faculty on campus, but it wasn't all just fun and games (those volleyball and golf courses only filled up half of our schedules). In all the years that I was a professional student, my favorite class was without a doubt was 'Structural Anatomy.'

South Street Seaport is currently playing host to Bodies - The Exhibition, an innovative exhibition showcasing real, dissected human bodies (preserved that is), that unveil the intricate and complex systems of tissues and organs that make our body work. From bones to muscles, a healthy heart to cancerous lungs (stop smoking people!), and everything imaginable in between, the event was a fascinating display of the reality of our entire physical makeup.

Having regretfully not taken Gross Anatomy as an elective for my BPE degree, and therefore not having that course under my belt to serve as a buffer for what I would eventually see this morning, I was a tad worried I wouldn't be able to stomach the event. But it's all good, my porridge stayed down! Looking back, I definitely don't miss the days of cue card studying and bell-ringer lab exams associated with one of the more difficult first-year courses I was required to take, but it sure was nice to have a visual refresher course now, to allow me to re-identify all those muscles that sure do ache on a daily basis in my old age.

South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan