Collapsible Shoulder @ The Stone

On a clear and crisp Saturday night in October, I spent a few hours in an Alphabet City sanctuary, The Stone. Thanks to John Zorn, since 2005, this magical place has offered the experimental and avant-garde a home in New York City. On this night, in the club with no sign on it's door, an insider audience gathered. The brilliant artist and music-maker Brian Chase was in residency, performing two sets. His first show was a duel with the legendary Anthony Coleman. His second show featured these guys, Collapsible Shoulder. CS is a rock band with a "long-history." Chris Cochrane (guitars and vocals), Kevin Bud Jones (synth and all things electronic), Kato Hideki (bass), and Brian Chase (drums). They live what they do and you can feel that in their music. It penetrates and moves you. 

Grand Army Plaza

Grand Army Plaza is a gateway to Prospect Park, really a gateway to the Brooklyn that lies outside of the shadows of it's more notorious cousins. When you rise above it, and look back, it all seems so small, this epic theater where we immigrants have come to prove something to ourselves and the world.