!!!, and "Chicago" is my nickname.

On the art and music front:

Last weekend was filled with tourist-y adventures with a friend visiting
from Boston, including a trip to the MoMA -- which, in addition to the
classic Warhols and Pollocks, has a fantastic exhibition right now
on the interaction between people and objects, called "Talk to Me"
(click here to see some of the works).

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The Warm-Up concert series at PS1
(ps1.org/warmup), the MoMA's all-
contemporary sister gallery in Queens,
offered a pleasant space to chill
in the last days of summer ...
and an amazing outdoor dance party
in the gallery's urban garden.

Highlight of the evening:
Horse Meat Disco (video below).




I was dancing about 20 feet to the left of this video.
(Starting at 1:49, I totally lost it. Safety Dance -->
the remix. --> Awesome.)

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Last night the band !!! put on a fantastic show at the Bell House in Brooklyn.
First (literal) brush with fame: dancing, literally, with the lead singer for a whole 5 seconds after he jumped from the stage and bounced his way through the front of the crowd. In addition to the hyper-energized dance floor, bonus points to the band for stage presence. I'll save everyone the trouble of trying to Google this annoyingly impossible name (pronounced, roughly, "chk chk chk"): www.myspace.com/chkchkchk.

Not ready to end the evening, I finally wandered back into Ryan's Pub last night for the first time since the very first night I arrived in New York. The bartender recognized me immediately -- "Hey, Chicago!" -- and chastised me for taking a whole month to get back. Technically, it was four weeks to the day. Nice to be remembered, though. Besides the comped drinks, I appreciate the comfort that comes along with being recognized, if only by a growing pool of friendly bartenders and baristas. (Sure, it's good to explore new places, but going back to Mudspot instead of searching out a new perk got me free coffee this afternoon, too.)

Tomorrow will be interesting as a non-New Yorker in the middle of New York on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. Mostly I'm ready for it to be Monday so all the extra police will go away and things can be more back to normal. In the mean time, Krugman's Sept. 6 column in the Times offers the best reflection on this issue and the attacks' impact over the last decade that I can find:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/opinion/friedman-the-whole-truth-and-nothing-but.html?_r=2&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

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