Keri Marion

Table view at Mehanata, the Bulgarian bar in the Lower East Side, NYC.

Justin & I just returned from a short trip to New York City where our main objective was all about the Gypsy love. The main thing we wanted to check out was Mehanata on the Lower East Side. There were a couple bands scheduled to play, but we only stayed for the first one. They were a beautiful trio from Haiti/NYC called Manze Dayila and the Nago Nation.

video here

I understand that they normally have a much larger band, but the condensed version was really lovely and intimate. It was also nice to see the audience participate. The setting is perfect for it; there’s only about 20 feet of dance space before the stage, so I imagine on nights where it is very crowded the mood can become extremely familial.

Not too far from where we stayed, we found the Romaniei Consulate & Gallery.

The weather was perfect for walking around town, and walking around town we totally did. On our visit we took one subway ride to the bar (because we were with Thompson and to walk would have taken too long), but otherwise walked everywhere we went. The weather was perfect for it.

We half-heartedly looked for the waterfalls by Olaufur Eliasson, but ended up just enjoying the weather and street-side entertainment.

The city is exhausting. Not just from the walking, but the sheer amount of noise and tourists is just entirely too much. We found ourselves walking down less busy streets so that we could keep a decent pace. That was actually quite nice because we got to see parts of the city a little less travelled and was able to also find some mom & pop businesses to support. Local coffee shops are still tough to find: it seems as if Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts has starved most of the locals out, but noticeably the closer to the Bowery we came, the more locality it seemed to retain.

It was a short visit, though. I’d like to spend a little more time in the city if I could only tear myself away from Rhode Island long enough to not completely miss my neighborhood & local joints.

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The Pied Piper of Hutzovina

August 14th, 2008 · art, life, music