And... Go.

By complete coincidence, not only was yesterday the tenth birthday of The Mudhouse in Charlottesville (one of my fave hangouts in the ol' small town)... It was also the first anniversary of Cheap Shots, my dive bar of choice here in New York. Ideaspace works in mysterious ways. Anyway. To Katie and Steven and Tim and the rest of my pals at th' Cheap... Glad to have you around. Here's to you kids. -PAR

Today, October 13th, The Mudhouse turned ten years old. So, to John and Lynelle, and all the employees who've passed thru their doors- Thanks. You make Charlottesville (and the world) rock just a bit more. -PAR

I'm gonna break here from my normal style of posting here. Normally this space is just pictures of my life and whatever words I throw together, but I'm pausing that for a moment. Because I feel the need to note that Jerry Juhl passed away on Monday. Now that's probably not a name that many of you are familiar with, but Jerry Juhl was the man who, along with Jim Henson and Frank Oz, was primarily responsible for The Muppets as we know them. Starting in the early 60s, and continuing through Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, Fraggle Rock, and plenty of other film and TV projects and appearances, he was the #1 writer for all things Muppet. And, as absurd as it seems, he made you believe that these characters were real breathing beings. Actual people with emotions and feelings and personality quirks, unpredicable, sometimes absurd, occasionally even inspirational. I was lucky enough to meet th...

So, finally a day off from work. It's time to assemble a posse and visit parts of the city I've never seen before. Grab Will and Chris Lamb , and walk down to Chinatown. Go food shopping at the crazycheap asian markets. Wander around, getting lost, taking pictures. Head down a side street, looking to get dinner at whatever restaurant seems interesting. Stop to stare at the eels and fish and giant crabs in the tanks in the window. And then, because it's a beautiful night, we walk the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn and back. Just one more evening in the big city. Always something new to do, somewhere new to explore. You'd have to really work at it to ever get bored here. -PAR

A truck delivering beverages to a Chinese Food joint on Avenue A. 'Nuff said. -PAR

It'd been a while since I'd been able to get out to a show. So yesterday I took the evening off and caught the 2 train up to the Bronx, heading to the final old-school jumpoff of the summer at Crotona Park . A beautiful summer evening, cool weather (for a change), funky beats, lots of people out to have a good time. A typical assortment of hip-hop pioneers onstage and throughout the crowd. Then, back to Manhattan. Getting off the subway in Times Square and walking the rest of the way home, just becuase it was so nice out. Ah, summer in the city. -PAR

As I noted earlier , I'm DJing at the Apocalypse Lounge every Monday night with my buddy Anna Bond. We were there last week for the first time, just testing it out and getting the feel of the place. Now it's time to do it right. Tomorrow night, we set it off in style. Anyhow. It's not a dance party, it's not a big throwdown, it's a chill weeknight hang-out with good music. Expect to hear punk, indie, 50s R&B, shoegazer, 60s garage rock, britpop, new wave, old soul tunes, maybe even some classic hip-hop. And whatever else we feel like. Cheap drinks, no cover charge, two people spinning tunes just for you. It all goes down at 189 E. 3rd Street (between Avenues A & B), every Monday night, 10PM until last call. Think of it as a really awesome weekly radio show. Only with cool folks hanging out. And air-conditioning. And booze. How can you resist that? -PAR