Empire State of Mind

Last week I went to NYC with my mom and sister, Fred. I owned that city.

We had dinner with my girl, E Masi, and I even crashed on her couch (when our hotel messed up our "order"). She is always a delight to be around and I miss her tons since she moved to NYC.

We saw Memphis. Good show. It was about a white, 8th-grade educated loser from, you guessed it, Memphis who rises when he plays "race music" on the radio and subsequently falls for a black singer. It's got the same basic idea as Hairspray but is much more serious.

We visited the island.

And the Statue of Liberty.

Fred and I with Manhattan in the back ground.

Although we couldn't reckon that any of our ancestors came through Ellis Island, some folks with our name did.

The World Trade Center site. It was kind of sad to look at think of how horrible 9/11 was. As we walked the street around the site I kept thinking about the people who ran from the site 9 years ago and the people who were never found.

I got to meet up with Heidikins, who just happened to be in town.

Scouted for wizards but in the end, Waverly Place was just another street. But a really cool street.

The Brooklyn Bridge -- "Brooklyn, I spent a month there one night."

SofL is smaller from Brooklyn.

Imagine no possessions/

I wonder if you can/

And no need for greed or hunger/

A brotherhood of man/

Imagine all the people/

Sharing all the world

Breakfast at Tiffany's

In the Heights -- which I really enjoyed -- staring Corbin Bleu (Jordin Sparks will join him soon). It's the story of Usnavi, a first-generation immigrant living in NYC's Washington Heights. His neighborhood is going to pot and they have to pull together and decide what's really important. It's got great music, good script, and memorable characters. Totally recommend it!

Everyone has a good time in NYC.