THE RETURN

Okay, so I have taken a few months off from blogging. I am not sure why, but I did. So to make up for it, this will be a multi-part post.

First, and this is hugely important, The National Equality March is this weekend October 10th and 11th. If you can go then you should. Be the change in the world that you want to see. Who said that, Zora Neale Hurston? Alice Walker? Regardless, go and and be part of making the lives of ALL Americans equal. Generations of people behind you will be thankful that you went and let your voice be heard against discrimination.

Music. There has been some ridiculously good stuff released recently, and I will start with the most recent, Blake Lewis. His CD was released yesterday and it is fantastic. It is full of electro dance goodness, and the most original effort by a former AI contestant to date. Check it out. You can sample/buy the CD from iTunes.

3 by Britney Spears. I wont judge you if you like it. You can find some remixes of the original track here.

The super fantastic La Roux released their debut album here in the US some weeks back. Front woman Elly Jackson, is a fire headed triumph on vocals and along with band mate Ben Langmaid, they have made some of the best electropop of 2009. Sample and buy at iTunes.

Photos. Here are some of pics I have taken while traveling the last few month. I hope you like them.

Beach, Sitges, Spain

Hat, NYC


Tango, Buenos Aires, Argentina


Love, Paris, France


Building, Paris, France

Liberty, NYC

?, Tokyo, Japan

Drinks, Tokyo, Japan

Rope Swing, Vermont

Rowing, Zurich, Switzerland

Oh, and if you like Swedish Pop, check out Erik Hassle. He is sort of the red headed nordic version of Jason Mraz. Watch the video for his latest single 'Don't Bring Me Flowers' on youtube by clicking here. He hasn't released anything yet here in the US, but trust that I will let you know when he does. Actually, now that I think of it the video for 'Hurtful' is better, so click here to watch it.

Palisades State Park, New Jersey

Yesterday I crossed into New Jersey, on purpose. It gets a bad rap mostly. Most of it is beautiful, but people usually retain the images given to them upon exiting a tunnel, crossing into it from Staten Island, using the PATH train, arriving/departing using Newark Airport, or watching the Soprano's and The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Those things are sadly real but they are in no way representative of the entire state. I ventured across the George Washington Bridge yesterday to spend some time at the Palisades Interstate Park which abuts the Hudson River just across from Yonkers and Westchester County in New York.

The Park begins just south of the GW Bridge on the New Jersey side, and stretches north for about 12 miles and ends just above where New York and New Jersey meet up. At its widest the Park is only a half a mile wide, but inside it you will find over 30 miles of hiking trails, 4 different picnic areas along the Hudson River, 2 public boat basins, 3 scenic overlooks, places for fishing and crabbing, blah blah blah... you get it.

There wasn't much traffic yesterday and it only took me about 30 minutes to get from Manhattan to the Alpine Picnic Area (where all of these pics were taken). It was a super easy drive, just off the bridge and onto the Palisades Parkway North. From there just follow the signs for the park entrances. The Website lists some public transportation option from Manhattan and some of the surrounding areas of the park, but none of them seemed descriptive enough for me to trust their accuracy.

Of course no visit to Jersey is complete without some music right? The past few days I have been listening to Boys & Girls - Martin Solveig (Feat. Dragonette) Super perfect summer fun from the French Producer/DJ and the ridiculously fantastic Canadians that call themselves Dragonette.

Another song I have on super heavy rotation lately is Tigerlily - La Roux. La Roux is a British duo/band of the moment with an electro-pop style that I cant seem to get enough of. Their Album dropped today in the UK with an expected release in the US sometime in September. I guess all good things...

L.A.

So I flew out to L.A. yesterday. Just for the night, because I can. I didn't stay long, just about 12 hours, as a matter of fact just about the time it takes to fly there and back. Anyway, I have been to L.A. many times before, I even lived there briefly when I was much younger. This time I just wanted to hit the ocean, so I went down to Manhattan Beach. Not the nicest, but it has that sort of 'come and knock on our door, we'll be waiting for you' 3's Company vibe. I didn't get there until 5 pm or so, and so by the time I checked into my hotel and got to the water it was almost 7 pm. I just walked the pier and took in the beauty of the Pacific Ocean. Chillier than I thought, I wished for a light jacket. Bulletproof - La Roux was making me happy as I took some pics of the surfers.

I walked from the pier up to a a Mexican Restaurant called Mucho. Not the most original of names, but the decor was just the right mix of trendy and comfortable. The food was better than I suspected, and I finished everything on my plate and washed it down with a blood orange margarita which was in a word, divine. I thought of having a coffee before heading back to the hotel, but decided against it as it was almost 10 pm. I went back to the hotel, applied a cucumber mask and turned on my iPod. Audacity of Huge - Simian Mobile Disco accompanied me to bed. So I got up this morning and headed back to the airport. I will be back in NY by 6 pm. not the worst way to spend 24 hours, is it?