??/??/05 Adam Deitch Project @ Blue Note, New York, NY

For this show, I managed to drag some friends along, who were blown away by the virtuosity exhibited by Mr. Deitch and company.

11/19/05 Adam Deitch Project vs. Roc Raida @ Happy Valley, New York, NY

This was an issue release for art fag magazine Beautiful Decay.

The club was one of those momentous spots that enjoyed a brief time in the spotlight before fading into obscurity. It featured an elevated VIP lounge and cage dancers.

The bands and DJs performed atop a pyramid structure.

One of the city's finest young drummers (from my hometown) sparred with one of the top turntablists in the game for a great night of jazzy hip hop beats.

There was freeflowing Steel Reserve.

On my way to catch the 7 train home, I came across a line wrapped around the block of the Times Square Virgin Records. Tickets for System of a Down's MTV2 2 Dollar Bill show were going on sale to a select few at 10am, so I decided to get on line.

The first few hours were fun. The diehard SOAD fans passed bottles and joints and all was well.

Then the late hour and the cold weather began to take its toll. Rumors persisted that anyone past a certain point would not get a ticket. Still we waited.

I took a brief nap at a corner deli and returned to the line shortly after the sun rose and returned the collective mood to a more pleasant level.

We watched a cab run over a pigeon and then took delight in pedestrians inadvertently stepping in its remains.

Finally, the doors opened and all hell broke loose in a mad dash for the registers.

Sadly, I walked away ticketless.

03/31/05 Fantastic Four @ Southpaw, Brooklyn, NY

For the first quarter of 2005, I was busy saving money to move to the city and commuting to Queens College from Rockland, so I didn't see much live music. The relatively low number of shows must have been the reason why the few shows I did see in the early part of the year were all super groups comprised of the best elements of my favorite regular groups.

This was the first show I saw after I moved to an apartment in Flushing, Queens. The proximity of my place to the Long island Expressway made it easy to drive to shows all over the five boroughs, but for my first musical experience as a resident of New York City, I chose a fairly far flung locale - Park Slope, Brooklyn.

The band featured Soulive's Eric Krasno on guitar, man about town Cheme Gastelum on sax, drum wunderkind Adam Deitch and organ grinder Robert Walter.

The venue is one of the nicer ones in the city, even though I haven't returned since.

The show was a predictable mix of exhilirating exploratory funk jams. The second set opened with Kras on bass for a few tunes.

On the way home, I got hopelessly lost in South Brooklyn for nearly two hours.