Skytop

Ok so lately it seems that all I do is eat, but actually I am way behind on my postings so I have a lot of restaurants to talk about. I went to the Skytop in Kingston - Great food, and a view overlooking the valley- very nice. Even better, the vinegarette here beats Milano hands down- it is a sweet light dressing which is fantastic. They are a 'steakhouse', and I did notice the steaks on the menu, but just had soup and salad.

This was definitely worth the trip. Of course, the company was really the best part of the trip.

They also brew their own beers here. The amber went down very smoothly!

http://skytop.moonfruit.com/#

beautiful art

My friend painted this for me. I love it; it gives me the feeling of a flower garden, peaceful and beautiful...

Albany Pump Station

Went here for dinner on Friday, with a pretty large group of people (30?) This was the first time I ever ate here, had a steak sandwich, and the beer was good - I had the Pump Station Pale, which was good, but I am not the most sophisticated connoisseur of beer at this point! Met some nice people in this group, and look forward to getting together again.

http://www.evansale.com/index.html

MIlano

We went to lunch here on Friday. I keep picking places that I have never been before, so we met here at 1 o'clock.

Unique catering once did an event I was at, and I remembered their citrus vinegarette on the salad - very light and crisp. I had a grilled chicken, spinach, sun-dried tomato, parmesan cheese, vinegarette salad. Pretty good. He had a caesar salad.

So we haven't gotten together in a few weeks, and we had a lot to catch up on - Apparently this restaurant closes down between lunch and dinner, but they were very accomodating since we sat there talking till 4:30...

http://www.milanonorth.com/

Overheard at a concert

Verbatim, in which a middle-aged woman is speaking to the performer:

"I am a lesbian, and your songs give me goosebumps".

Monsters of Templeton

So the church lady book club just finished this selection for February.

http://www.laurengroff.com/?display=home

I cannot say enough how great this book is. I loved the story, I loved the writing. Early on in the book, I consciously realized how talented of a writer she is - I really loved it. Read it.

Pretenders 1/ 29/09

The Pretenders opened their "Break up the Concrete" tour here in Albany at a nearly sold out Palace Theater. They played a good mix of their classics and a lot of songs from the new record, (which surprisingly I loved right out of the box). The band sounded great, and of course what can be said about Chrissie Hynde that hasn't already been said? She is the quintessential rock and roll girl...Who doesn't still want to grow up and be her? She seemed like she was enjoying herself up there, and it was also good to see Martin Chambers back with the group on drums. There are a couple clips from this show up on youtube.

Set list:
Boots of Chinese plastic
Talk of the town
Don’t cut your hair
Message of love
Don’t lose faith in me
Love's a mystery
Back on the chain gang
Rosalee
The last ride
Stop your Sobbing
Day after Day
Don’t get me wrong
Tequila
Thumbelina
Break up the concrete
Brass in pocket
Bad boys get spanked
Tattooed love boys
Kid
Precious

the Wait
Up the Neck

They had opening band that I wasn't familiar with 'American Bang', who were good and loud, perfect for an opening act -I think they are based out of Nashville - They have a couple albums out, the latest is called "Move to the Music". Their web page bio calls them 'unruly Southern-fried Garage-Rock' I guess that sums them up pretty good (?!).

Mickey Rourke

Mickey Rourke is back. Yes, yes. ok, I admit it, I loved Mickey Rourke in the 80's, in the era of 9 1/2 weeks. Oh, I loved that movie - when he fed her out of the fridge (that honey, yikes) and when he 'catches' her snooping in his closet...ok, so don't forget I was young and a Catholic school girl and it was oh so naughty...

ANYWAY...

I don't know, I don't care where he was in the middle of then till now - but having recently seen The Wrestler, I am glad he's back. He did such an amazing job in that role - like everything leading up to now was preparation for that film. How life goes by, how many opportunities pass, and facing where you are now...

Joe's Pub 01/09/09

So I am catching up on all the posts I haven't gotten to, and right at the top is the Joe's Pub gig by Graham Parker. First of all, being the first time I ever went to this venue, it was a lot different than what I expected...I guess I was thinking it would be more of a neighborhood PUB type place...(DON'T EVEN THINK PUB ROCK IN THE SAME SENTENCE!) It was tres chic, very upscale, nicey nice, with lots of industry type people packing the place. It was great though, because the geepclique was all present and Geep himself was at the top of his form. Just the right amount of self-deprecating humor, current event humor, and a just right mix of his old classics, great cover song and something from the more obscure (Character Assassination - now that's obscure! but couldn't be more perfect for the evening, at least in meaning for us).
It is no secret that we may not be the most objective when it comes to Graham - He is so amazingly literate - his lyrics seem to take on depth and dimension as the years go by. To re-listen to an album that I haven't heard lately, such as I have been doing with Songs of No Consequence, it is amazing the real significance found in the lyrics, even the 'filler' as he sings it...

The other thing about going to a Graham show is the clique - the group of people that have become my dearest friends - all beginning from a shared love of his music, and evolving to real friendship... This time even divine intervention made sure that we all were there together.

The best joke of the night was when Graham was speaking about his clothing (shirt from the 80s, pants from the 90s, sunglasses from the era of Temporary Beauty, but songs recycled from 1976- 'even older than my clothes')

Keep it coming - We can't get enough.