Iron Maiden Tour & Residency '06

DAY THIRTY-TWO: EXTENDED TOUR IN NEW YORK V

Before meeting Eirik and Heidi for lunch, I walk to an apartment on the edge of East Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Bed-Stuy. I'm skeptical and note the house number spray-painted on the two floor building. My future roommate greets me at the door with his three year old affixed to his chest. I relax enough to sit down and talk about art in the city for a half-hour. It takes me four days to give into to the warm feeling the rough apartment gives me.

I meet Eirik and Heidi at a French cafe on Bleeker Street in the West Village. Eirik went to grad school with me. They have just moved to Boston where Eirik is a tenure-track photography professor at MassArt. The meal is quite enjoyable and we plan on meeting in New Haven sometime this fall for a critique with various transplants from grad school.

Andrea makes vegetarian shepard's pie for dinner which is tastier than you meat-eaters might think. Their friend Andy comes over and we go to Williamsburg to see Jed's coworker's band. They've just been signed to Sub Pop Records and perform in a wharehouse-like space, raw and youthful. We stand at the back of the room, looking in on a passed era of our lives. The band is dedicated, loud, and buoyant while the crowd surges forward and flails. The hack bar makes brisk sales of Pabst and Bud, I see a guy I worked with this summer, and we leave when we guess they're about finished.
I feel super tired, but we get a drink at Spike Hill and Jed and I discuss the conspiracy possibilities of Janet Jackson & Justin Timberlake's Superbowl stunt. Back at the apartment, Jed and Andrea talk about the artlessness of recent horror films. This might or might not have made Andy uncomfortable and he leaves. It's 3 am.