Back in the USSR...

What a blast I had in NYC. The Newcritics anniversary gala was tops. It was like meeting long lost relatives you only had previously spoken to on the phone. What a great group of folks. The event was held at the Paley Center for Media in Manhattan which was once the Museum of Television & Radio. I used to have to truck down to this place during college days to do research. Perfect place for the event and by luck the most awesome Newcritics writer Ms. M.A. Peel happens to be one of the centers directors. As we chatted away at the reception, some killer newly restored classic footage of TV performances by all the 60’s and 70’s musical greats were playing on a big screen and pumping through the sound system. We moved into the theater for addresses from our blog’s host Mr. Tom Watson and others and were then treated to a great clip from the Dick Cavett Show in which Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal get entangled in a verbal slugfest that rivals any of today’s reality TV shows. Mailer even lashes out at poor ole Dick who’s doing nothing but trying to find a place to break in and go to commercial.

Afterwards, we all met for drinks at some swanky Manhattan club for more conversation and libations. Blue Girl, Tom K., Trickster!, Lance Mannion, not even half as cantankerous as they come off in their posts. From names in a blogroll to friends and collegues. In the immortal words of Spinal Tap's keyboard master Viv Savage "...amazing this computer magic".

Other than a trip to the Virgin Mega Store in Union Square, the rest of my visit was of course spent at the always accommodating Smoke & Mirrors studio working on a project that I’ve been at for awhile now and sitting in on other sessions. I’m always amazed at the talent that walks through the doors of S&M. Got to hear tracks from the new Get Help! record that are nothing short of brilliant. Silk Sheetz came by to drop a couple things into one of his hip hop tracks. Check it out on his MySpace page. Awesome 80’s era hip hop from back when the genre actually had something to say. Swag was in doing basic tracks for a song with a funky difficult part that was being mapped out during my last trip. All of it sounds great. Perhaps rock isn’t dead at all, it’s just living underground in Brooklyn NY.

My esteemed colleague in all things rock Jackson and his lovely young lady the Legal Diva were most gracious hosts for allowing me to clutter their living room couch yet again. I hope they can both make it down this summer for some chillin’ Peachtree City style. The whole trip was a moral boost that I’m hoping will carry me into the spring and out of the seasonal funk.

Anyway, glad to be back in the ATL with my girls and the rest of you.

UPDATE: My brother reminded me of a missing aspect of my post here. Yes, the excitement was palpable while in Gotham country. The fact that the young rag tag Giants we're playing for the big rings dominated all media and street conversation. Friday morning Jackson and I took in breakfast at a diner and I picked up both The Post and The News for yucks. The News had NO articles about anything but the game and the Giants. Not a word about super Tuesday or anything else. The Post had only two non-football pages and they were dedicated to Brittany Spears' latest meltdown. Everybody was pumped. Congrats to the Giants and NYC for slaying one of the NFL's Axis of Evil teams (the other being the Dallas Cowgirls). The best Super Bowl since the 49'ers last minute win eons ago.