Sticking It To the Man at 30

My parents wanted to do something other than just take me out for brunch for my birthday this year (because I’m turning 30) and I suggested we go see School of Rock. I’ve been slow on my show-seeing this season and my mom agreed that it was a good idea. We sat in the second row on the left side last Saturday and I was looking forward to it. The movie was meant to be turned into a musical and Andrew Lloyd Webber knows how to write a good score. At the very least, it was bound to be good.

I was disappointed that Alex Brightman (Dewey) was out but seeing how his standby Jonathan Wagner looked exactly like him, I knew I probably wasn’t going to mind (after all, I had nothing to compare him to). Sierra Boggess was in though, so there was that.

The pre-show announcement is made by Webber himself and states that yes, all the kids are playing their own instruments. Good to know because I found myself wondering that as they shredded through the score! Holy shit, those kids are talented. 

The score is great and it follows the movie almost to a T. Everyone in the cast is very talented and I walked away humming the score (which usually never happens). The staging and sets were great and the choreography was effective. Jonathan Wagner also didn’t disappoint. My 30-year-old ass definitely walked away singing “Stick It To The Man.” 

If you like the source material (ie. the movie) and musical theatre, get yourself over to the Winter Garden Theatre immediately. School of Rock won’t let you down if you’re looking for a good time. 

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Today was a good day.

When I got an email from a friend and former colleague that she and her husband had moved into a new house in the Hudson Valley and that house turned out to be right across the street from my best guy friend’s childhood home, I immediately planned a trip up when they planned a housewarming party. And also convinced the aforementioned guy friend to come too.

It was a nice, albeit chilly, day to get out of the city. He picked me up around 11 at my apartment and we cruised up whatever road you take to get up to his Hudson Valley hometown.  We made a stop so he could pick up wine for his mom’s new neighbors and nearby we found Girl Scouts selling cookies. We took the bait. I walked away with two boxes, he had a few more.

The party was lovely and it was really, really awesome to see my friend, her husband, and their three adorable children. And the birthday cake? Simply amazing. It felt amazingly adult to take a day out of the city to visit my former colleague and her family for her housewarming party that also happened to be a party for her second child’s third birthday. 

Anyways, after a couple of hours, we said our goodbyes and took a drive up to Peekskill to revive ourselves with coffee at one of his favorite spots, The Peekskill Coffee House. It was super casual and chill spot. We went around the corner to Bruised Apple Books, where we browsed used books and records. We drove back to his mom’s house and caught an express train home. The view was amazing:

After a Mexican dinner at a new spot near his apartment, we decompressed from an afternoon of way-too-many children and screaming with my favorite episode of season 2 of GIRLS (the cocaine episode) and an episode of Parks and Recreation. We also listened through Dookie on vinyl. Pretty awesome.

The best days are those with traveling (no matter how small) and unplanned adventures. Today was one of those days.

Instead of the normal ‘let’s go to a bar and drink for my birthday’ thing, I decided to go a much cheaper (and more fun, IMHO) route: I cooked and invited a bunch of friends over.

I made tabouli, spicy peanut noodles, salad, sweet potato fries, rice-crusted lemony chicken, almond butter chocolate chunk cookies, and bought some apple cider donuts from the Lincoln Square farmers market.

Everyone else bought wine. And cupcakes. 

By the time I dragged out my DSLR, I was several glasses under so most of my shots were blurry. But my best friend signed me up for a Pandora account which we put on my Roku, listened to some rock, played Cards Against Humanity, drank more wine, and eventually my guitars were busted out towards 1am.

Today I started my somewhat-hungover day with a quick meditation, lots of stretching, and an episode of GIRLS. Later I’ll be having brunch with my family at The Green Table in Chelsea Market.