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"We band of brothers" who attended last night's meeting were wonderful to the point I wanted to give everyone a group hug. I've corresponded with some of them over the years and it was great to say "oh, so your so-and-so" from the messageboard.
I will remember this for a long time to come.
My rating:
Friends: 5 stars. Wonderful conversation all around and if I did not have to work today, I would still be talking to Thor.
Beer: 3 stars
Food: 1 star
All the best.
James
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Quite jealous now, but somewhat comforted by the idea of the 1 star for the food.
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The food was never that much in that industrial part of Manhattan. It is as dull as the surroundings. Used to be a big hang out for hookers, Day and night, crime, organize crime. Westies, Mafia and others. There has been improvement over the decades.but hardly the exciting part of the big apple.
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What a fun gathering last night...and a strong turnout too! You guys rock. Look forward to seeing those photos! We gotta do this anually, at the very least.
And Ron Burbella's treasure collection was breathtaking!
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I also want to thank Thor for organizing us. I had a great time meeting everyone -- the discussions were amazing. I hope we can do this again in the near future!
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Honestly guys, the lamb chops were really good.
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I also want to thank Thor for organizing us. I had a great time meeting everyone -- the discussions were amazing. I hope we can do this again in the near future!
I second this! Thanks Thor and all the showed up.
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Posted: |
Jun 11, 2014 - 3:47 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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Report time. My recent 10-day trip to the US East coast can be separated in half with two very different and distinct experiences – first New York, then Boston (to see Williams live). This is only about the New York bit.
I will not bore you with all the sightseeing stuff I did, since you're really just here for the film music get-together, but to sum it up briefly: While my hostel was in Chelsea, I spent my days exploring most of the main territories in the area – Meatpeacking district, Financial district, Harlem, Upper West Manhattan (including the Lincoln Centre and Central Park), took the free Staten Island ferry which sailed smoothly past the Statue of Liberty, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn downtown and Heights, trot the tourist traps of midtown & Times Square, paid my respects at the 9/11 memorial, had a glass of white wine in Little Italy, went up the Top of the Rock for the views, visited the Museum of Modern Art and chilled out in Williamsburg (unfortunately missing out on a tour of Brooklyn Brewery).
I caught the Letterman show on Monday (I can be glimpsed in the audience shots of the broadcast, since I was seated right by the aisle) and saw the ROCKY musical on Tuesday, where I was hit on by a single gay man sitting next to me. There was a lot of walking and beer drinking every day! Daytime is great, because I can do whatever I want; nighttime gets a bit more lonely when you have no one to share your experiences with, but that's OK. You can hang out in bars and do some peoplewatching.
But one of the highlights was certainly the get-together on Wednesday evening. I trailed the Highline park to Gastromarket on 10th Avenue. It's basically a very desolate, industrial area with very few bars, but the place itself is excellent. A gorgeous back yard which was just PERFECT for this type of event. When I got there, jpteacher, Dogbelle and marcgothic were already waiting outside the front door. We hung out by the bar and eventually took our seat in the back as the other participants arrived one by one. Jkannry already announced his cancellation in this thread, but the only one who did NOT show up for whatever reason was Ray Faiola (what happened, Ray?). Too bad, because I would have loved to see him chat it up with fellow collectors.
The beer was fine, but I had hoped for a greater selection being the beer nut that I am. The food was so-so, as previously noted, but Josh seemed happy with his lamb chops. But man, what great conversations we had – both about film music and other stuff. The film music stuff was necessarily quite esoteric at times, especially circling around older material which is natural given the mature age of the group as a whole. I feel like I am reasonably knowledgeable about that, but it was certainly a learning experience too as my knowledge on many of these things can't really compare to you guys.
A highlight was Ron Burbella's 'suitcase'. He pulled up one rarity after the other to show us – including the CAINE MUTINY LP, rare acetates of KING KONG, rare Williams LPs and a ton of autographs, letters and pictures of great composers. What a treat! Rozsaphile had brought a couple of his magazines for us to sample.
We all departed with a happy smile on our face at about midnight, or just before. After that, Josh and I had a night cap by the Penn station before he had to return home. This was a work day, after all.
Special thanks to jpteacher for assisting in the booking of the place, and also to my old friend Eugene Iemola (who just happened to be in NY at the same time), Josh (who I've known for, what, 15 years online, but never met untill now), Kevin, John, Dogbelle, marc, Ron and Rozsaphile for making this a very unforgettable evening in my life. I hope this will be the spawn of an annual event on the East coast. It's unfair that all the film music gatherings are on the West coast and in the Los Angeles area – great as they are.
Here are some photos from the evening (I know that Ron took some too, and you're free to share it here):
The whole crowd. Around the table from the left: Ron Burbella, Josh "Swashbuckler" Gizelt, me, Dogbelle, John McMasters, Kevin Costigan, Rozsaphile, jpteacher, marcgothic and Eugene Iemola.
Ron Burbella shows some of his goodies to Eugene and Josh.
Me with Ron's copy of CAINE MUTINY and a hyper-rare John Williams single from STORIA DI UNA DONNA.
Me holding a rare Williams autograph with the CE3K theme scribbled on.
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