Yes, my 1st show of the year

alright; so my friend J calls me up the other night and says he might have an extra ticket to the
Peter Bjorn and John show @ the Mercury Lounge, so I am definitely in. I dig PB&J and the show was sold out before I had a chance to get a tickets, and its at one of my favorite venues the Mercury Lounge so its even sweeter. sure enough J came through and we went to the show tonight.

we got there late and the show didn't start on time, it got started about 45 minutes late.

The White Rabbits opened the show, and well i like what i heard, it sounded like a San Fran band, but the singing was mellow, so i guess it's there Brooklyn flair. anyway check them out @ http://www.myspace.com/whiterabbits

the next band up were the Born Ruffians out of Toronto. http://www.myspace.com/bornruffians

it was 11:15 and Peter Bjorn and John finally took the sage, it was an amazing set, they had some fun with the crowd, they have not mastered english yet, which made there talk in
between songs just funny, they'll have it mastered by the end of there US tour.

toward the end Victoria Bergsman and Lars came on for Young Folks . the place went crazy, and it was a fun show,
I'm happy i went, if you have not seen Peter Bjorn and John yet, go see them !
http://www.peterbjornandjohn.com/

anyway I have posted pics from the show up on my picture site (some below), and I'm
almost done with sorting and developing my pics from my trip 2300 down only 1300
left to go, so keep checking the site it should be done my mid February.

ttyl

I'm Back

alright, I'm back from China. enjoyed my first weekend working, looking forward to my last 7 months of college. have a ton of concerts coming up, I'll be sure to keep y'all posted, and if you look over @ my picture site I have begun to post pics from my trip (www.gruen.smugmug.com).

Enjoy,

ttyl

Last night in China (Shanghai)

boy will i miss this place, thanks to Sara, Fred and Tomer who forced me out of my hotel room and into some bar, where some Indian guy from Chicago kept buying us rounds because we were American, i truly do love free beer i appreciate it even more when i remember it the next day!!!

hit up Starbuck's for the last time in Asia, it was all good at 2 AM.....

again thanks to the J Crew for watching my back, and well i cant wait to see ya'll in NYC, well really i don't want to see all of you , but most of you would be alright.... you know where i', headed with this....

again i had a great time in china and i'll see ya'll stateside... NYC cant wait to go to a show.... and have a real lager.....


ttyl

Stateside..... wooooohoooo...I love hearing english!!!!!!!

one more thing

just a quick stat:

on this trip i have taken 2,947 pictures with my dSLR and 600 pictures with my point and shoot. total amount of pictures taken on the my trip to china so far 3,547.

ttyl

Winding Down (Shanghai)

Today my only day in Shanghai and all I got was miserable weather, but I had to go and see some of the city, it was my only day in Shanghai. we started off by heading to the Pearl TV Tower, went all the way up hoping to see the unbelievable Shanghai skyline from the vantage point of 1500+ feet, we got to the top and well visibility was only a couple of hundred feet, still really cool, but it would have been better on a clear day. after this we split into two groups, one went to the Shanghai Aquarium, and the other headed to the Shanghai Art Museum; I headed to the art museum, after all aquariums are similar and well I have been to a few, so I headed toward the arts. the museum is in an elegant building, I walked in and paid the 5 Yuan admission, there were 4 floors each a different exhibit, the first was a Photography exhibit represented about half the exhibit, I particularly enjoyed the Satire of the photograph entitled "Suicide" (below). The second level had some cool sculptures as well as some contemporary art; I just loved the sculpture “Baby Gay" by Livio Scarpella (below). the final two floors were a treat but I forgot to write down the artists I truly appreciated, and the main exhibit on the fourth floor was great, but again no name, but there were some great portraits up there, and well after 3 hours in the museum and looking at all I could, I went down to the gift shop, didn’t find anything of interest and exited the building. At this time it was raining so I ran down to Starbuck’s and had a refreshing hot drink, and headed out into the rain. I found myself aimlessly roaming I stumbled into a mall, and 6 others in search for the a red pair of Nike’s that my barber in Nanjing was wearing, but to no avail, and when I found others that I liked they didn’t carry my size (47). I wandered even more down Nanjing road, and well it reminded me a little of times sq, not as many lights but I was offered everything from watches to weed, and well it was all in the open the vendors did almost nothing to conceal what they were selling. I was tired I got into a cab and headed back to the hotel, I hope to enjoy some of Shanghai’s great nightlife this evening, but we'll see, I am wiped, and out of cash..... cant wait to be back stateside where i can make money to spend on beer and shows....

ttyl






Suicide by Man Ray


Baby Gay by Livio Scarpella

Winding Down ( Nanjing/Suzhou/Shanghai)

Monday I awoke I bit before 5am and packed all my bags onto the bus, we headed to Suzhou and to a Garden there, I am all for gardens, in he spring, summer or fall, not winter were not a single plant or flower was in bloom, waste of time in my honest opinion, afterward we headed to a Silk Factory, interesting to see how they made it, but again not worth dipping in to the amount of time I can spend in a real city like Shanghai. I arrived in shanghai at around 5pm, (the direct bus route would have been 3+ hours, but our great driver seemingly got lost). I have about 36 hours to enjoy and take in Shanghai, I will head to the Bund (waterfront) this evening then take in some of the bars and other nightlife here in shanghai, tomorrow o will most probably head to the Pearl TV tower and the Shanghai museum of art, I will figure it out then,

ttyl

The Last Weekend in China (Nanjing)

My last weekend in Nanjing was all right, but we were down two, and it was more quite then usual. Sunday was my last day in Nanjing I headed back to the area around Confucius Temple and bought some crap for peeps back home, and got some bootleg DVDs for the trip home. There was a farewell dinner at some fancy Cantonese restaurant Sunday evening, didn’t eat to much, but had plenty of beer to fill the void, it was nice to see everyone for one final meal before we depart for Shanghai.

ttyl

Huge Recap

Ok well I have been offline for a bit, so here’s a recap of what went down in the last eight days.

So last Sunday I went to Shenzhen, the city right outside of Hong Kong, got there at night, and well hit up a bar and retired for the evening.

Monday morning we awoke early and headed over the border. Walked over the border then took a train into the city. That day I did some walking around, and I found this one area with about 200 bars, and well I must have had 50 beers, each at a different bar, all a different import form a slew of counties. I was totally buzzed walking up the stairs to the restaurant; it was about 2 miles of steps going up the damn hill, not an easy task while inebriated, but fun none the less. Went to some more bars I think that night and retired from the evening at some great hotel in downtown Kowloon.

Tuesday morning we headed Victoria's Peak, and the views were breathtaking. You are able to see all of downtown Hong Kong from there, and well as for pictures the Chinese smog really does not permit great shots. Getting to this city was great, mainly because English actually gets you around, and Cantonese is not a necessity. I had some shirts made up, and well my day was surrounded with eating and drinking, and well it was frankly just great. That night we returned to Shenzhen, I did my laundry, and retired early, in preparation for my early morning departure for Sanya.

Wednesday we have gotten to sanya, its sunny and 80. this is where I put down my camera and well spent 5 days on the beach and 4 night in a bar... great times.... I remember the days mostly the nights are all a blur...

Anyway I am back in Nanjing where it is sub-par weather, and the smog is present, went to the Nanjing zoo, where you can stick your hands in the cage and get a reaction from jaguars and other animals, lots of fun. Other stuff to do here in Nanjing....

Anyway, lost track of time and well this was one big update for ya'll I have taken well over 2500 pictures so far, and well I still have a week to go... I can’t wait...

ttyl

Day 8

today i did nothing, i got up went to the park, walked around the lake, went back to my hotel and slept..... it was good to sleep for a change.

tomorrow i'll be headed to Hong Kong, really looking forward...



ttyl

Day 7 for real....

ok this is the real day 7,

today i decided to just get on the subway with my camera in hand and take to a random stop, and well it was just all impulsive, i stayed on for 6 stops, when i got off i was just shooting pics, i was walking along the main streets and well there was not too much to take pictures of, so then i started dipping into the dark alleyway's, and wow, there were lots of people living in slum like conditions, and well they weren't fans of having their picture taken, they all smiled and happily let me shoot their surroundings. i was in awe that so many people live in slum like conditions, and well they were all happy, they all had a smile on their face, it was interesting from children playing to a old woman feeding her dog, nobody looked down.

i was so taken with shooting these slums, i just kept walking even after i put my camera down, it was spectacular to see all of it, i ended up getting lost and well it took me about an hour to backtrack and find my way back to the subway, regardless it was well worth it and i cant wait to see how my pictures come out.

i got back to the hotel, got ready for dinner, the girls cooked a storm, cant wait to have cooked food, and not packaged msg filled edibles.

ttyl

ok, have my days all wrong

alright, it really feels like i have been here for a month, and well today was actually day 8.

i spent thursday shopping, we started off at Walmart, we got tons of fruit and other food, we also picked up luggage to take it back to the hotel, we got 2 carts full of food. afterward we went to get cell phones, took a while because of the language barrier, but we left with out much needed sim cards and were happy. we went back upstairs to do more shopping and well we spent the rest of the day in the mall and i can attest that there is not a single shoe store in there that had shoe larger then size 10, I'm a 13 EE and well i don't think i will be getting shoes while i am in China.
when we were done with looking around, we went to go look for the girls, we found em, but they took their time shopping so me and Tomer just popped open the luggage and had a small feast right in front of the escalator, all the chinese folk thought we were crazy westerners, it was fun to see their facial expressions.

we left the mall, and as we were headed down the stairs to the subway i caught sight of a Starbucks and well its been fill week with out my Starbucks and so we headed strati to there, the coffee sucked, and they didn't have any Venti size, but it was nicely arranged with plenty of room, in old fashion western style.


oh well thats all for today...

ttyl

Night 7

ok so we all went out for Soribell's birthday (17) .

went out to some bar or another, we all had fun even those who did not drink, as always plenty of pics would ensue, but i have no decent net connection, so y'all will have to wait...

anyway, i think its time to learn to dance, and get over head-banging and moshing, oh well someday....

Nanjing is great, they beg white folk to enter the clubs and bars, its really quite enjoyable...


ttyl

Day 7 (Nanjing)

We got to Nanjing, from the train went strait to the hotel, ate some breakfast, then headed to our rooms to unpack; we will be based here for the next 3 weeks or so. At around noon we as a group took a short walking tour of the local amenities, then split until classes start later in the day. I walked around, got some groceries I needed, then went to class, hope to go out tonight though.

ttyl

Day 7 (Xi'an-Nanjing)

Today we headed out from the hotel at around 10am; we headed to the Tang Dynasty Art Museum, interesting artwork, not my speed though, spent time snapping shots of the roof moldings unique to the era. Afterwards we walked to the Buddhist temple, the White Goose Pagoda, again lots of pics, didn’t see any Buddhists though. It was a serene environment, filled with smell of incense and tourists, and no Buddhists monks in their signature bright orange garb. They had a nice basketball court though. I walked up to the top of the pagoda it was well a view from 7 stories, nothing special not worth the walk up seven flights of stairs. Outside the Pagoda there were well planted gardens that were not in bloom so they were a bit dull looking, probably really picturesque during the spring and summer. We left the pagoda and headed to the Great Mosque, I didn’t go in, but right outside there was a shuk, similar to the Arab shuk’s that are indigenous to many middle eastern countries, but the odd thing bout this one was there was no Arabs, but the same small and dark alleyways where vendors are selling crap, interesting and fun.

We left the area of the great mosque and headed back to the train station, where a 14 hour train ride to Nanjing (Nanking) awaits us. The train was nicer then on the ride to Xi’an, and no one was doing any heavy drinking this time around, it was a pleasant and enjoyable ride, got to sleep more the on the previous ride. Looking forward to Nanjing, no more constant touring; yes a place to rest up.

ttyl

Days 1-6 (Beijing – Xi’an)

I have been here in china for a few days, and I have been unable to post due to lack of net access.

I arrived in Beijing Friday morning, and went strait to the hotel, the group all went out and the Sabbath observers stayed back, and enjoyed dinner with each other company.
Saturday came and went, it was spent sleeping, and getting over the jet lag.

Saturday night I took a cab to meet up with the group and met them at the Peking Opera, interesting, not my cup of tea, but to keep it short interesting and different.

Sunday we woke and headed down to breakfast, and it as still snowing, we headed from the hotel directly to the Great Wall, and it lived up to all my expectations of being a wall, it was an old wall, and extremely slippery due to the snow, I went up to the fourth tower and turned back. It was a great scene, I met people from countries all over the world, all of western Europe, but not England there was a small group from Ireland though; Australia, Singapore, Canada, and lots of folks back from the states.

After that we headed to Summer Palace, it was really nice and it would probably be even nicer in the summer. The frozen lake, and snow covered palace was serene, I have plenty of pictures, I’ll post them when I have a more steady internet connection.

After Summer Palace we started off to the train station to take the 12 hour train ride to Xi’an, we spent new years on the train it was an interesting place to get wasted. Anyway we arrived in Xi’an and we went to the hotel to eat and freshen up after the long haul, then we went to see the Terra Cotta warriors, in short it a bunch of toy soldiers, I really did not appreciate it all. After all it is nothing breathtaking, I have seen more toys in Toys R’ Us. We headed back to the hotel that night and I walked around lots of bars, lots of clothing stores that were mobbed, interesting city, hit the sack early.

ttyl

Pre-China

As I sit here at the gate waiting to board I sit and for the first time ponder, why am I going to china? I really have not given much thought to this trip I am about to embark on. I am not really coming up with any clear cut reason in my mind as to why I am headed to china. All I can do is march forward and see what fate has instore for me.

It is times like these I truly to appreciate the spontaneity that brings me to the not too rational yet still immensely enjoyable. Well I must tell myself that it will be enjoyable and judging by what I have heard from friends who have mad the same journey in the past, I will have a great time.

I sure do thirst for a drink, it’s a good thing I am flying with one of my best friends, we arranged to sit right next to each other after we met at the airport, and he didn’t mind sitting in between two people, and not getting a window or aisle. he is one of my friends who I really do value our relationship, he is someone I can look up to and confide in, a true friend. It is a pity he will only be able to come on the first three or four days of the trip, but I’ll settle, its better then no one at all; and to all my friends and family who are wondering who this friend is, you all should know him, or even met him he goes by Jack D.

ttyl