"Music is an outburst of the soul." - Frederick Delius

I love music. I love going to live shows and the word "free" makes it even sweeter. Every year Brooklyn hosts a series of free concerts: Seaside Summer Concert Series at Coney Island and Martin Luther King Jr. Summer Concert Series at Wingate Field. They've got some pretty great acts that make their way through. Monday night I made my way over to Brooklyn to meet up with Katy and her roommate Laura to head to a show at Wingate Field. Who were we going to see, you may ask? Well I will tell you. My late elementary / middle school self was super excited. We were on our way to see Salt-N-Pepa! They were playing along side Slick Rick and Naughty By Nature. As we walked up to the field, we saw a forever line. Forever lines are the kind where there is no end in sight of the line of people waiting to get in. We walked and walked and walked and finally got to the end where we hopped on. For a forever line, it actually moved pretty fast. I had to buy a bottle of water from a street vendor while waiting because I was so thirsty. Let me tell you, I have drank more water in the past few days then I ever did in the course of a day in Virginia. It's been fairly hot here, but not too terrible. Actually not too terrible for most people. I'm definitely a cold weather person so it's not my favorite. Anyway, back to the show. I didn't know too much of Slick Rick though I'd heard of him before. Naughty By Nature was pretty good! There was a loud roar from the crowd when "O.P.P" started. We also got some Hip Hop Hooray and Feel Me Flow (which made me think of my brother-in-law... I think I have that song because of the wedding reception? Anyway, thought of you Greer!). Then. Salt-N-Pepa (minus Spinderella). Girlfriends were FABULOUS! In 5th grade, my best friend Carlye gave me a copy of their cassette tape and we rollerskated to it in her basement all.the.time. In the middle of their set, they paused and said "We have a surprise special guest for you. Our brother from another mother... Busta Rhymes!" WHOA! Crazy super surprise. Katy, Laura and I all made great surprise faces and got pretty excited. He came out and did "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See." Salt-N-Pepa sang all their great hits and to not disappoint, finished up with "Push It." After the show, we were all given a parting blessing from Salt which was pretty sweet. (Haha, right? I know, pretty bad.) Thursday we're going to the free John Legend show at Coney Island.

Tuesday I was crazy excited because I was going to catch up with my friend Stacey whom I haven't seen in FOUR YEARS. Stacey and I met on the set of One Tree Hill in Wilmington when we were both working as background actors. Here in NYC she only lives a few blocks away from me, at least until October - how perfect! I couldn't wait to see her and catch up. She's got amazing taste in music and invited me to a show at Rockwood Music Hall, a great place to see live shows in our neighborhood. Seriously. Almost all of the shows are free & if not, the money goes directly to the artists. There are two stages, one pretty small one and the other (where we were going that night) has a max capacity of 200, so still pretty intimate. Stacey knows a LOT of people there so she said hi to some friends and I met them (all very cool). We grabbed some seats right next to the stage and right away a waitress came over and asked for our drink order. Like I said, almost all of the shows are free so they do have a one drink minimum but for the price of one drink you get a night of free music so totally worth it. Eventually Stacey & I ordered a sparkling water & cranberry juice respectively (the cheapest drinks they have since I'm keeping it tight while the budget ain't right). The band playing was The Paper Raincoat. A-MAZING! I loved them and I loved everything about Rockwood. Stacey goes there quite often and I have a feeling I'll be over there a bit as well. After the show we mingled a little and then decided to check out each other's apts. Stacey has a pretty great place a bit north of me. We hung out there for awhile and she made me a fantastic list of people to definitely check out at Rockwood. While going through the schedule, I noticed Johnny Gallagher is playing on Sunday night. I've wanted to see him live for awhile now so the two of us made plans to see him. We popped over to my apartment for Stacey to see and I was excited to get there because my roommate Rachel had moved some of her stuff in earlier that day & I was so excited to have a roommate now! Rachel had some work friends over also checking out the place and Katy was there too (Katy is actually the one who matched me and Rachel up as roommates). Rachel & work friends went out to dinner and Katy came with Stacey and I back to Rockwood to catch Hugo. Very different from The Paper Raincoat who were softer and made you feel like you were hanging out in their living room just you and them. Hugo was louder and more rock but still very good. Nice to see two very different shows at the same place within a matter of hours. At the end of the show, Katy made her way to the train back to Brooklyn & Stacey and I walked part of the way home together. I love having her as a so close neighbor!

Rachel got home a few minutes after me and we got to talk a little. It's really funny because we've actually only hung out two times before but I feel like she's been a friend for years. That's a good sign, I think. She is a chef at a restaurant called Commerce and has an insane schedule so it was really nice to catch up with her. Now we just need to find a third roommate and we'll be set! Anyone want to move into our Alphabet City home with us? :o)