Old habits die hard when you’ve got a sentimental heart
Last night was in one word: amazing.
Sydney and I ventured into Hell’s Kitchen to see She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward’s musical project) and everything worked out perfectly.
We first ate at Kyotofu, a small restaurant on 48th and 9th. We chose this of all places after reading about their soymilk ice cream on New York Magazine. This ice cream is in fact dairy-free and, therefore, Sydney approved. We started out with their savory sampler, choosing four items on the menu (four, as the waitress had warned was not enough, though we wanted to save room for dessert). My favorite was the barbequed unagi, wrapped in a philo dough with lotus root (now one of my favorite condiments). We ordered a second helping. Then we ordered three full size desserts, the green tea soymilk ice cream, the blackberry anmitsu (a jelly like thing) and the sweet tofu. We finished it all with some delicious green tea on the side. It was the perfect meal.
Then we ventured over to 56th and 11th for the concert, held at Terminal 5. Walking into the venue we were branded with “Xs” written in black sharpie on each of our hands to prove that we weren’t 21, and, hence, could not buy alcohol. It wasn’t really that I wanted to buy anything that bothered, it was that they used Sharpie. Seriously? Those marks are going to be on my hands for a week.
Syd and I immediately went to the merch table (evading the after concert lines).
Once in the venue we weaseled our way into the second row of people, giving us a perfect, albeit off-center, view of the stage. As the concert progressed though and more people showed up we were slowly pushed to the center.
The opening band, Freakwater, was a full blown country outfit. All of their songs sounded the same. The second opening act was a fun, lively indie rock trio called The Rosebuds. Then after a delayed wait She & Him took the stage.
Zooey was adorable. She had an adorable sequined halter dress on with a flower in her hair, and she looked like she was having so much fun. M. Ward was just incredible on the guitar. I realized halfway through the concert that the awesome bassist was really pregnant and they all just seemed to be having a great time.
Because we were off to the side we couldn’t see Zooey when she took to the piano and could really make out the backup singer until Zooey introduced her to sing one of her own songs. When the music started I grabbed Sydney’s shoulder. This wasn’t any girl, this was Becky Stark, of Lavender Diamond (see earlier blog post). I have become a bona fide Becky Stark groupie, somehow unintentionally seeing her twice over the course of the year.
At the end of the concert, due to people leaving early, Sydney and I made our way to front center.
It was a glorious evening.
