June 24th at Azaza Lounge

Two Thursdays ago, there was no better place to be than New York City... Akiva had told me about this show he was setting up in this sweet lounge and promised that ot would be a great evening. And it was! (and if you already read the Akiva board, most of this is cut and pasted from there because I didn't feel like writing the same info twice)

Aurora and I were going to go early and shop, but the roads had other plans. We spent 90 minutes driving around New York City trying to find a decent place to park and running over pedestrians. Luckily Graham serenaded us and I screamed out of the window that I just wanted to get the hell out of my car. We decided to just park and eat - no shopping.

The place was really nice and our waitress was fabulous. She had a nifty accent. Our company was a nearby table of diplomats. We eavesdropped into some of their conversation pertaining to fundraising and certain celebrities. The lounge had ambiance, but what made the evening amusing was the background music. The loud background music of the latest hip hop and rap songs. Such as the unedited version of "Roses" (which we were talking about during the car ride) and the unedited version of "Put It In Your Mouth". And roases played twice in a row. Ken and Jodie met up with us during the second spin. Followed shortly by Steve, Katie, Aimee, and Maryellen. I think Aimee and I freaked Steve out because he forgot we knew each other. I blamed Steve for giving me pink eye and contemplated what he did while he was in my room to give it to me when Ken said that Steve has a constant problem with pink eye. I assume that Steve has a syringe of pink eye germs and uses it whenever necessary. I think he shot me in the eye. Anyways...

Saw Mr. Dave Pittenger and I think he was shocked to see me since I have known him for quite a while and haven't seen him play yet. Said hi to Akiva, and we all made our way into the back room. Aurora said it felt like a sleepover - there were tons of wall chairs and huge cushions. And everyone pretty much knew each other, which made it even better.

As always, its cool to see Steve from Green to Think play solo shows - they are more low key then the GTT stuff and is always entertaining. Such as when he used the mic to push his glasses back up. Steve also couldn't finish a song because he couldn't see his guitar. It was quite hilarious. He took requests from Ken, so Ken asked him to play Dear Urgency, which is my favorite of the new songs. Maryellen and I were dorks and sang the backing vocals and harmonies during "We Are Stars".

I was *really* impressed with Brian Sendrowitz and would have bought his CD then if I didn't have to worry about enough cash to get out of the parking lot and coffee for the trip home. Now I have an excuse to see him live again. He reminded me of David Gray, Damien Rice, and Johnathan Rice. Ken and I were texting back and forth during the show since he was sitting across from me. Brian was telling a story as Ken was reading the text I sent him about my strategically placed bandaids. Ken's jaw dropped and he laughed out loud at exactly the inopportune time during Brian's story. We both turned red and Steve stole Ken's phone and ran off.

I was also really impressed with Dave Pittenger. He busted out some tunes on the keyboard and guitar and all were enjoyable. Even his covers. And I don't think he messed up his songs - haha. Dave brought his video camera, so of course I was camera girl, but I think the venue was too dark. Hopefully some of the footage can be used.

And of course Akiva rocked the house and well worth the numb ass from sitting down for three hours. We forgive him for playing songs twice. The new stuff sounds good - and the sex song is great - haha. And I like the Mississippi song a lot. And track ten was played, though it wasn't written like that on the setlist. Aurora and I will have shirts. I promise. And we will have Swift shirts. It's like a secret society.

After the show we talked about porn then dodged out around 1 am. Spent about an hour getting out of the city - all for Dunkin Donuts. We got our iced lattes and headed for the highway.