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Now playing: Ari Hest - Anne Marie
via FoxyTunes
rain and flip flops are not the best combination. i mean sure it keeps you from having soaked sneakers, but as i exited the PATH train at 14th and 6th, i almost fell. like eight times.
i went to see singer/songwriter Ari Hest at Highline ballroom and at various points in my venture i thought i was just never going to make it. as previously noted, i'm new to this whole new jersey driving thing. however, i am also not an idiot. i left plenty of time for rush hour(s) traffic, assuming i would find myself sandwiched between corporate suited commuters and beach goers, who are more affectionately referred to as 'benny's,' trying to jump start their vacation a day early.
as usual, all of my driving instincts were wrong. but that could be a whole blog and metaphor in itself. i headed in the right direction this time, but with major accidents clogging my sacred mapquested route, improvising a different route was a risk i was willing to take. sadly, even though for ONCE i knew exactly where i was going, new jersey standstill traffic landed me in hoboken an hour and 20 minutes after my departure. lame.
half a gas tank and unnecessary amounts of toll money later, i found myself in hoboken, extrapolating the pattern of one way streets that lay before me as i tried to maneuver the nightmare that *is* hoboken parking. amazingly the scenario did NOT end with me stewing, muttering "oh great, i'm on 18th and totallyscrewed." i found an available, legal spot, just a swift walk away from the train station. i parked, relieved that i was bookended between a parked motorcycle and a truck rather than bumper-to-bumper 280 traffic. if i'm going to be stationary, i would like to be able to put the car in park and keep my gas.
i was finally on the PATH when an obnoxious, drunk twenty something year old who tried to cleverly disguise his staring at my chest as "just having a stare on" decided to announce to all of the passengers that he was in fact, going to NYC bar of mediocrity "Off The Wagon." half of the people had their Ipods on and couldn't hear. the other half blatantly did not care. either way, i can always appreciate a good collective eye roll--especially when it's directed at someone who is oblivious to their own absurdity.
but at least i was on the train, just three stops away from one of my favorite singer/song writers. and probably some bang up, indie opening acts. three minutes before our scheduled departure, Mr. Drunkey McFratFace thinks that it would be sooooooo hilarious to report the one arabic guy on the train as having a "suspicious package." to me, it looked suspiciously like an average breifcase, which it was. so it turns out Mr. Drunkey McFratFace's middle name is 'ignorant.' confirmation name? ass. why? because his actions, and i, are in fact confirming that he's an ass. you heard it here first.
myself and several other harmless passengers of all ethnic backgrounds broke for the stairway, a necessary opening from the suffocating underground, illuminated by streetlights with a complimentary soundtrack of New York city traffic, which was somehow soothingly disruptive.
so, i, with a busted ankle and poor sense of direction made my way toward Highline ballroom, misguided by the guy at the flowerstand on the corner. i am officially not recommending him to those of you in the meatpacking district. in passing, i discovered a hotel in the shape of a boat, which when combined with the pouring rain called for copious amounts of Lonely Island and Noah's Ark references.
finally, standing outside wisely in a baseball cap looking far trendier and less soaked than i, was my friend who was providing my ticket to entertainment. the promiseland. we entered the venue with optimism that Ari Hest's opening act would be as particular with his lyrics and arrangements as Ari himself. by the end of the first set my beer was gone, and my glass of optimism half empty. i don't know how else to say "dude, he sucked" but his lyrics were as empty and vapid as his hair was trendy. and he had some REALLY trendy hair. i don't know if there is a correlation between how trendy one's hair is and how stale said musician's music and lyrics are, but it's a subject to be studied. also, his only accompaniment was a guy who played two of his four strings on the upright bass. lame.
thank goodness ari is so amazing. finally we were back to substantive writing (see a fond farewell as cited early in this blog, or ANY of his lyrics...ever) and bone chilling arrangements in songs like "broken voices" and "anne marie." this is what made the night worth all the previously scripted trouble, and naturally it's the part of the night i don't really have words for. but i had tears for it, matched by a dropped jaw, racing heart, at chills. but i guess those are all the words i need. his music was so powerful it triggered emotions that were converted into physical reactions.
it was pretty amazing to see one artist, so manufactured yet thinking he's really sincere, and another, so genuine and authentic, with a natural and appropriate level of showmanship. and the friend that i went with knows the latter one, so we got to hang out for a bit, which was pure awesome.
on my way back i got stopped by a cop for pushing my luck at an orange/red light scenario literally four doors down from my apartment complex. after coping with exhaustion and temporary blindness from his stupid cop light, i only got a warning.
it was not my day for transportation. but it was definitely my day.
-k.
read about Ari's 52 song project
http://www.arihest.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=8&Itemid=98
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