From Russo to Russo, A Beautiful Weekend

The sun gods smiled down on New York City for Earth Day this year. After suffering a winter that didn't seem to want to ever leave, we had 70 degree weather and sun sun sun all weekend long. What a difference a week makes!

The Green Apple Music Festival was this past weekend and it honestly didn't feel too much different than just another NYC weekend packed with shows. But hey, call it a festival. See if I care. The kick off Thursday night with The Duo's acoustic show at the Knitting Factory was really fun. "We should do this every Thursday," said Mike Greenhaus. Special guests included the enchanting Skerik and the Fat Mama horns who were in town for their reunion show last night, also at the Knitting Factory. Joe Russo was sitting in the same spot and it was like I blinked and jumped from Thursday to Sunday. Somehow, I managed to down a lot of liquor in between those two moments.

I missed the daytime stuff on Friday at Grand Central (someone's gotta make the donuts!) but made it into the city for Zero's show at the Gramercy Theatre. It's always a treat to see Kimock but this show didn't quite do it for me. I think the Gramercy needs to warm up a little too. After Zero, I headed downtown to the Knitting Factory (man, it sounds like I live at this place, doesn't it) to see Mike Dillon's Go-Go Jungle in the Tap Room. Man, was that loud!! Mike D has some serious tribal rock happening there. I'm not totally sure what makes this band different than Hairy Apes BMX except a slightly different lineup. Everyone got down in there that night. And yes, everyone got small, y'all.

Saturday afternoon, hungover but on time, I met up with friends for the daytime events at Grand Central. Giddy from the sunshine, I enjoyed Zero's set way more in the afternoon (after some coffee). We had a mass media mogul lunch in Bryant Park with deliciously helpful bloody marys. After lunch we headed back to the "fest" and saw Assembly of Dust. I realized this is the first time I've ever actually seen this band live. It was good! I'm not jumping in a mini-bus to go on tour or anything but I really enjoyed it.

After a late afternoon nap back in Brooklyn, I went BACK to Manhattan after sundown to get a Phix. I was pretty shameless about my excitement for this show and when I walked up to the door, they were playing "Slave to the Traffic Light." I'm sorry but that just rules. Who else is playing "Slave" these days, huh?? From my drunken outgoing text messages, the second set went something like Axilla - MOMA - Free - Ha Ha Ha - My Friend - Maze... And then there was Divided, Wolfman's, maybe some other stuff and, called it, a Loving Cup encore. Yes, we were all beautifully buzzed. As long as I had my back to the band the entire time, everything was just fine.

Sunday I spent mostly in bed or on a blanket in Prospect Park face down. They were having some event in the park that had obviously nothing to do with Earth Day as there were five of those huge blow up things that kids jump in running on gas generators. Way to go, Brooklyn. Be ahead of the times. I peeled myself up for one last trip into the city to celebrate my girl Gabrielle's birthday and see Fat Mama's reunion. The music sounded great, blaring and intriguing but my energy level was at an all time low. I hung out for a while and then snuck out.

So, Green Apple came and went. I don't really feel greener but it was a good effort. My favorite story of the weekend is that Pete Shapiro, creator of the festival with Relix magazine, went to all three cities - NYC, Chicago, SF. If this festival did anything, it brought springtime to New York City and for that, I'm very thankful.

Next stop, New Orleans!