BAM and then it hits you. The heat, the humidity. The long daylight hours which always lead to nights which are that much more epic…
You can see Broadway shows such as Wicked where the songs are so cathartic that even the ordinary has pathetic appeal. http://www.wickedthemusical.com/
You should interact with theater so wonderful that the only possible complaint is the damn box set-(because honestly when does a box set ever work?) In this theater the acting, lights and sound are so superb that even the non-theater goers who were coerced into going by talkative friends, covert to theatrical patrons.
http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=6&g=85
You might work with playwrights who are honored and celebrated by Lincoln Center, Chicago Arts and Obama himself. You might even help run a few season fundraisers for these significant people – Don’t worry everyone deletes the emails from KickStarter or Indigogo as soon as they appear in the inbox. http://nymadness.com/
If you are lucky you could have friends who hang out with Slater Bradley. When he attends your Brooklyn barbeque (on your tar roof). You char his veggie burger because you cannot stop gawking. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slater_bradley
You would also have friends who are doing residencies with Marina Abramovic and producing films with The Brooklyn Independent, Cupcake Girls and Annie Aviator. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Abramovi%C4%87
Perhaps they can offer you some soul-fulfilling work if your random performance art and onerous day job are not enough to keep your brain from melting in the heat.
Shakespeare In The Park has such a small performance venue that even if you enter the ticket lottery every day in the summer and stand in line from 4AM-11AM at least three times, you probably won’t get to see a single show. But that is part of the experience and who knows, you may just meet your summer fling while standing in line….
HBO free movies in Bryant Park happen every Monday featuring movies from Pycho to The Wizard of Oz. http://www.bryantpark.org/plan-your-visit/filmfestival.html
There are free roof top movies being screened all over Brooklyn every weekend. (Hipsters rent large lofts to premiere indi movies about the gentrification of Brooklyn- ironically ignorant of their own role as the gentrifies.
Free dance parties, open bars and performances happen across the city daily
@ http://twitter.com/#!/hapninnyc_free
Check Out The: Library Bar, Chelsea Highline, Roosevelt Park, Soft Spoke, LPR, The Morgan, Williamsburg Flea Market (please note this is different from Artists and Fleas).
If that is not enough and you are too hot, hop a train to the Rockaways- specifically 97th street- the new Hipster beach where coconut ice-cream, organic cheese fries and hula hoop contests once again gentrify the area. Don’t worry, the locals have moved farther up to 119th st… That’s fine right?
Perhaps stop at the Jamaica BayWildlife Refuge just past Cross Bay Park and pretend that you know about birds other than pigeons and the two Red Tail Hawks who live on the UES.
At the end of a long day it is always best to return to your roof, take a drink of $4 white wine, beer or chilled peppermint tea, lay back on the rood and enjoy the slight-trembling of your apartment building which lets you knot that they train is running without delays.
My roof boasts a bike I purchased for $90, (probably stolen in Staten Island, then sold here in Brooklyn). It also boasts a majestic palm tree, because I purchased it for only $7…Righhht. Need to Hug a tree anyone?
Summer Life is starting high in NYC. So with that I will head down to the Band Shell for a free concert. After- all everyone loves some good Dashboard Confessional… ALWAYS.
intrepid trekking 