Yesterday I spent the entire day in Central Park. The weather in New York has been absolutely beautiful this past week. I've been telling people that it's like California weather. Sunny and warm during the day and cool at night with enough breeze to turn off the A/C and open the window. I've even been able to wear jeans, comfortably (The heat the week before made wearing jeans or any long pants unbearable). I met up with Korey on 60th and 5th, near the building that comes out of the ground (first time I had seen that). We snacked on some veggies which ensured an entertaining rest of the day.We spent the next 3 hours (though it felt like 6) over at Rumsey Playfield for Summerstage. DJ Spooky was curating a musical showcase which included Outernational, a ska/rap/rock band from Brooklyn, Prefuse 73, and Talvin Singh. Overall, it wasn't the most exciting concert. Outernational had a good energy, but their front man really bothered both me and Korey. He just didn't feel genuine and I have a problem with bands that seem like they are trying to be revolutionaries. Their song about the French youth uprisings a while back was uninspiring. However, at least they had some stage presence. Prefuse 73 and Talvin Singh did not. It's not really their fault. Prefuse 73 is electronica so you had one guy slouching over a computer, another slouching over a turntable and then there was the drummer. The drummer was entertaining to watch, for a little, since Prefuse 73 has some pretty off-kilter beats so doing live drums can be difficult. Talvin Singh is a DJ. DJs are never interesting to watch. You just listen or dance to them, but you don't watch. Oddly enough, a bunch of people stood up during Talvin's performance and just stared at him. They didn't dance or move; they just stared. It kind of weirded me out and messed with the vibe.
Korey and I spent most of the time just lying on our blanket and watching the clouds which were devastatingly beautiful. Our earlier snack definitely helped and the musical backdrop really intensified the whole experience. After the concert, we meet up with Larry and Ashley and killed some time in the park with a smoke. After that, I don't remember much except walking around haplessly, sort of going color-blind at one point (yeah...probably not a good thing), and this little kid coming up to Korey and pretend shooting him with a stick. Overall, a pretty great day. Like Korey said, Central Park=Eden.
