I have a soft spot in my heart for “The Wayans” Brothers.
Of course I grew up on their shows “In Living Color” and “The Waynes Brothers” (and pretended I was a fly girl).
They were innovators in cinema with movies like “I’m Gonna get you Sucka” and “Don’t Be a Menace in South Central with Drinking [...]
Posted: July 22nd, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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Last night Lindsay and I ventured down to Twelve21. It’s an 8,000 square foot event space and performance venue just a few minuets walk from Union Square located at 12 West 21street. It has already hosted the likes of EMPD among other elite social events and private parties.
The sound system is glorious, as is [...]
Posted: July 18th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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I get pleasure from the simple things in life. Like this morning when I watered my plants on my balcony and realized my chili pepper plant finally bloomed. I yelled out “I do have a green thumb!” and did a little victory dance in my living room. So imagine my happy happy joy joy over [...]
Posted: July 12th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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I can’t stress enough how much I love summer in NYC and all of it’s random occurrences.
To paraphrase Woody Allen from Annie Hall:
‘Love is, is too weak a word for what I feel - I lurve summer, you know, I loave summer.’
My good friend Tonya Abernathy and I spontaneously grabbed two long cardboard poles and [...]
Posted: July 7th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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The weekend was a blur.
Friday Night I met up with my friend Jonathan at Piano’s and pulled a rookie mistake of mixing tequila with whiskey (not in the same glass mind you, but one after another) followed up by shots of tequila and Blue Moon beers at Parkside Lounge. The hangover was brutal.
Saturday I went [...]
The weekend was a blur.
Friday Night I met up with my friend Jonathan at Piano’s and pulled a rookie mistake of mixing tequila with whiskey (not in the same glass mind you, but one after another) followed up by shots of tequila and Blue Moon beers at Parkside Lounge. The hangover was brutal.
Saturday I went to Sugar Sweet Sunshine Cupcakes on Rivington with sunglasses on and ordered their largest iced coffee then crossed the street to say hi to my beautiful (and talented artist) friend Leah who was bartending happy hour at The Johnsons. After telling her of my hangover (and her concurring it was a rookie mistake to drink whiskey and tequila back to back ‘too much sugar’) she told me to pull it together, take a nap ‘because we’re going to go dance in Brooklyn tonight.’
After taking a disco nap (and two ibuprofen), I called up my troops in Williamsburg and told them I would be swinging by Enid’s with Leah ‘so get your arses there!”
I love Enid’s in Greenpoint. I hadn’t been there in a hot minuet because let’s face it people in NY tend to hang in their part of town and their borough. Sadly, I too have fallen victim to that. When I lived in Brooklyn, I loathed coming into the city, and now that I live in the city, it takes a lot to get me into Brooklyn; but good music and old friends will always do the trick. It was great to see Alyssa, Indira, Ray, Johnny, among others, and the music was BANGIN’.
We danced until the place closed for the evening.
Sunday night Fergie called me (Not Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie, but the Irish man that is the bull in my china shop; He rocks me.) to join him, his cousin, and a few friends from Limerick (and to ‘bring a few of my available girlfriends’). Given the short notice (11pm on a Sunday night) my available girlfriends we’re either sleeping to get ready for their day jobs, working on their art projects, or where otherwise occupied, the boys where just going to have to settle for available me. “Meet us a Fat Cats.” He said in his text.
As I got out on Christopher Street I begin to laugh. He had taken three straight Irishmen to a bar smack in the middle of the West Village during PRIDE week. “It’s going to be hard for them to meet women here,” I said to Fergie looking around, “Well, they could meet women here, but they would be more into me than these boys.” I said with a giggle.
Fat Cats had a live twelve-piece jazz band playing, wall-to-wall pool and ping pong tables, and had a nice chilled vibe about it.
It’s no secret in my circle that I have a thing for a man with an accent, but I got to say, the Irish have it. It’s not just the accent or the copious amount of storytelling (which I love) but it’s the ability to take the piss out of one another, and really enjoy a good laugh. The boys competed to tell me disparaging stories about Fergie “He tells me you’re writing a book. I didn’t know he knew women that even read books, let alone wrote one.” They were all incredibly charming and possessed an expansive knowledge of music: “We saw Mos Def with an orchestra last night, and Al Green the night before.” Fergie’s cousin Jay told me as he cued up at the pool table.
I was very envious. That’s the thing about living in NYC. You take for granted all the great things that go on here, and it takes someone from over seas to remind you what your missing out on.
Fergie cut out a little early to get ready for the day job, while I stayed up with these three Irishmen from Limerick until the Sun rose on Monday morning.
Good times. I need to get to Ireland soon.
Beso- Maya Contreras
-->Posted: July 1st, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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From the moment I woke up yesterday, everything seemed to be dream like.
Maybe it was the perfect weather, or the way the light was streaming down the streets on the Lower East Side, but my surroundings appeared to be calm almost in slow motion.
The dream sequence only seemed exacerbated when I walked past Ethan Hawk [...]
From the moment I woke up yesterday, everything seemed to be dream like.
Maybe it was the perfect weather, or the way the light was streaming down the streets on the Lower East Side, but my surroundings appeared to be calm almost in slow motion.
The dream sequence only seemed exacerbated when I walked past Ethan Hawk on a film set at the corner of Rivington and Clinton Street. He was telling a P.A. that he would like to get his pages for the script a little earlier in the day so he could have more time to go over his lines.
The day only got stranger when I went to go meet Sophie at her office. We hailed a cab that was missing its middle seat, and had arrows drawn on the door telling you how to hold the handle and shut the door.
“That’s bizarre.” Sophie said getting into the van-sized cab.
“My whole day has been like this.” I said to her.
Sophie and I were on the way to the launch of Thrasher TV at Hotel Grace (Formally Hotel QT). The red lights were dimmed, as Thrasher TV’s programming ran over the screen above the pool.
The party was an overall success, wall-to-wall beautiful people, taking advantage of the open bar and lush atmosphere. Sophie and I off course ran around taking pictures of ourselves (Vanity hath two names: Maya and Sophie) even taking pictures of our Tits & Arse in the bathroom with the killer wallpaper.
The dream sequence only ended after a ride in a convertible cherry red Mustang through Time Square with Sophie, Sarah, Olivia, and Joseph- all of whom spoke in French around me truly making my evening a lovely ‘film noir.’
Enjoy the pics.
Beso- Maya Contreras
-->Posted: June 26th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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Shed a tear ’cause I’m missin’ you
I’m still alright to smile
Girl, I think about you every day now
Was a time when I wasn’t sure
But you set my mind at ease
There is no doubt
You’re in my heart now
I was thinking a lot about ‘Patience’ (not just the Guns n’ Roses song, but my own).
It’s easy to [...]
Shed a tear ’cause I’m missin’ you
I’m still alright to smile
Girl, I think about you every day now
Was a time when I wasn’t sure
But you set my mind at ease
There is no doubt
You’re in my heart now
I was thinking a lot about ‘Patience’ (not just the Guns n’ Roses song, but my own).
It’s easy to forget about having patience especially in New York City. I think it’s one of the reasons I like living here. New York doesn’t have any patience, and neither do I…or rather, neither did I.
After six months of living in my Lower East Side apartment, I finally took a moment to unpack the boxes containing belongings from my Grandfather and my Great Grandparents. One of items in the box is a folio full of love letters from my Great Grandfather Belisario Contreras to my Great Grandmother Teresa Maria Chavez before they got married.
Each one of these letters, more than three dozen, where written lovingly in long hand Spanish and sent across an ocean. My Great Grandfather was stationed in Europe while my Great Grandmother had to move from Spain to Chile to take care of her ailing Grandmother. These letters from my Great Grandfather took weeks to get to her. Upon the letters arrival she would read each one of them lovingly over and over again before writing him back. It would of course take another few weeks before her letters would reach him on the ship in which he was stationed. Their communication was limited to once a month.
I don’t know if this made their love affair stronger or their 60 years together more precious: the not knowing, the waiting, but it must have taken incredible patience to deal with the longing.
Now, with texting, emailing, instant messaging, and of course our cell phones, we can communicate, and over communicate, with one another. If the person that has your heart doesn’t get back to you within minuets there is a feeling of ‘what’s wrong?’
My friend Melissa was upset the other day when it took her boyfriend two hours to return a text, “It never takes him that long!” She said with frustration.
Two hours verses my Great Grandparents three weeks of waiting. What a difference a few decades make.
Said, woman, take it slow
And things will be just fine
You and I’ll just use a little patience
Said, sugar, take the time
‘Cause the lights are shining bright
You and I’ve got what it takes
To make it, We won’t fake it,
I’ll never break it
’cause I can’t take it
I sat on my balcony last night with a man that I used to date this past year. We sat, laughed, and talked for hours. We have become friends. I even gave him love advice last night. We had rushed into a relationship last fall with one another, and realized later we didn’t have a bit in common, something we would have realized that if we had taken it slower at the beginning. What we did have between us was genuine friendship, and as we watched the sunset over my balcony, I vowed to have a little more patience, with others, and especially myself.
Beso- Maya Contreras
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Posted: June 25th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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I’m sleepy.
I didn’t get back to my apartment until 5am this morning. So, instead of blogging, I want to just say…Enjoy the pictures, but I’ll drink a cup o’ joe, and give a few details of last nights high jinx.
Ahmira, Sophie, and I all met up for a pre-Box drink on the Lower East Side [...]
I’m sleepy.
I didn’t get back to my apartment until 5am this morning. So, instead of blogging, I want to just say…Enjoy the pictures, but I’ll drink a cup o’ joe, and give a few details of last nights high jinx.
Ahmira, Sophie, and I all met up for a pre-Box drink on the Lower East Side at Death & Co. on 6th Street by Ave A (they have odd hours by the way: 6pm until midnight, but great atmosphere).
Last night was our favorite promoter- Christian Lollipops’ birthday. The usually aloof doorman Gaines was uncharacteristically warm. We were let in by him after only 30 short seconds of waiting (well, I did have two hot girls with me and like Colt 45, it ‘Works Every Time’).
It does not matter if you are on the list at The Box, they will have you wait outside until you get nice and uncomfortable. It’s really quiet outside, as are the doormen. You can practically hear one another breath while you wait for them to let you in.
Sophie was greeted by Simon Hammerstein (the owner) at the door. They proceeded to chat each other up and reminisce over old phone calls made to each other. Ahmira, Sophie, and I then walked upstairs to VIP where Christian’s birthday party was being held.
There is a gorgeous ginger haired man that holds the list upstairs. He always greets me rather warmly (lucky me). I have always flirted with him in the past but tonight he grabbed me around the waist. “When am I getting your phone number?” He asked me this time. He has always been a bit coyer in the past. I had never really talked too much to him before, only flirted and said hi. I knew he had an accent but its always so loud in there its been difficult to distinguish it. “Well, maybe I should get your name first.” I said with a laugh, “And where are you from by the way?”
He kissed me on the cheek, “My names is James, and I’m from Ireland.”
As Sophie and I gasped (and I backed away), Ahmira said, “What? I don’t get it.”
Details forthcoming in ‘The Him Book’ coming out in October (shameless plug).
Sophie danced with indie actor Luis Guzman, I tried on Micah’s sunglasses and danced on the tabletop (because the dance floor was too crowded), and Ahmira kept our glasses full with Greygoose (she was fearless grabbing the bottle of the birthday boy’s table).
The cabaret performances once again ranged from shocking and good to shockingly good. One performer with a two foot afro pulled out a 10 foot scarf from her…well, not the part where the babies come from, but the orifice located just round back (ehem) all done to Chaka Kahn’s song ‘I’m Every Woman.”
Networking, Dancing, and a little trouble making all took place until the wee hours of this morning (I need a nap).
As previously said: Enjoy the pictures. Beso- Maya Contreras
Posted: June 19th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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Ain’t no one saying no to Sophie.
She is my secret weapon, my ace in the hole, my je ne sais quoi. She is more crafty than a quilting bee, more cunning then a black belt ninja, and she speaks more languages than a UN conference call.
So last night when I saw MTV host SWAY and [...]
Posted: June 18th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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As someone who has written about nightlife in New York City for the past year, I have a dirty confession. I actually hate going out on Friday and Saturday nights in NYC; especially on the Lower East Side.
Sunday through Thursday, great shows, slammin’ parties, gorgeous interesting people, and overall good times. Friday & Saturday, freakin’ [...]
Posted: June 17th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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