august adventure 23: british invasion

Dance of a Nomad: Day 8, New York, New York Karen, the oldest sibling that she is, sent Katy and me activities to do in the city before we even arrived.  When Katy left, it seemed that everyday I would wake up with a fresh email from Karen, listing suggestions of coffee shops or fun activities in the city.  On this day  "David Gray" jumped out at me from her email.  Ever since I watched "Crazy Beautiful" and heard "This Year's Love", I fell in love with David Gray.  His raspy voice, his british accent, his rough around the edges look.... I loved it all.

Karen clued me in on the finer details.  He would be playing songs from his newest cd at the Apple Store in Soho; he would then be followed by a short talk by Emma Thompson and Maggie Gyllenhaal concerning their new movie, "Nanny McPhee Returns".  I was delighted.

Somehow missing the rain... I found my way to Karen as she waited patiently outside the store for me.  I bounced up the stairs in anticipation, and snuggled myself into a nook behind the last row of chairs.  David Gray is indeed amazing... and surprising a bit quirky (and you know I love quirks).  His soulful songs and his passionate musician ship brought me to a place where I imagined I was laying on a blanket with a boy I loved somewhere in a sunny meadow, feeding each other frozen grapes.  Cheezy... I know.... but hey, that's what I love about his songs.  passion and love.  The best things of life!  The song, "Kathleen", was amazing as well as "When I was in Your Heart" in a new acoustic version on his latest CD, Foundling.  (I immediately bought "Kathleen" and continued to play it on the rest of my flights during this trip. )  After his set he retreated to his backstage hideaway, but soon return upon hearing the growing applause from the crowd.  He returned to play my favorite song.... "This Year's Love".

Karen and I queued up for the Nanny McPhee Return talk.  We got prime seats in the second row, this time around.  Maggie Gyllenhaal is such a classic beauty. She is composed, gorgeous and much like a woman from the turn of the century.  Emma Thompson was great.  She was hilarious, entertaining, real and quirky... which, as I mentioned before, I love.

I thoroughly enjoyed this live music, lecture talk combo.  All thanks, to Karen!