Last week, i had the immense privilege of traveling to NYC to see Karen O's psycho-opera, Stop the Virgens (that's a link to the NYT article that led to me buying tickets in a blissful haze five minutes after reading it!). I have the BIGGEST CRUSH EVER on Karen - her charisma, style, voice, and mind are all hers and hers alone. As the countdown to the day of the performance i'd be seeing clicked down, i remained totally uncomprehending. There's such a disconnect between the Internet and "real life" - what i see online, i'm often unable to visualize existing outside of the computer. Anyway, here is an account, in photos because everything in between them was basically a lot of walking and metro-navigating, of my trip!
Right after the bus dropped me off at a random street corner in Manhattan, i made a beeline for my first stop: Victory Garden, a delicious frozen yogurt shop that uses goat milk to make their soft-serve, in addition to positively mystical ingredients like saffron, rosemary, or anise (among many others!). After sampling a titillating frozen yogurt that tasted vaguely of pine (it was refreshing like mint, but without the minty taste - i wish i could remember the name!), i ordered a twist of salted caramel/chocolate with cacao nibs on top. Mmmmm.
After a long metro ride (where i saw Gala Darling's husband! I had to pinch myself!), i made it to Brooklyn for, finally, Stop the Virgens. We walked through a black tunnel, where a thin layer of gauze separated us from multitudes of moaning, whispering girls clad in white. As i passed by one of them, she mouthed in my ear, "The scum runs deep." I nearly peed myself. ANYWAY, the psycho-opera is no longer running, but i just want to put it out there that it was extraordinary (as in, so much more than ordinary). I honestly had trouble paying attention to the opera as a whole sometimes, because i was either shamelessly gaping at Karen, or at Brian or Chase playing their instruments on either side of the stage (i had no idea they'd be there!). There was a loose plotline involving a not-quite-human grand maternal figure (Karen) nurturing a young band of girls clad in white. She eventually starts treating them more like sweatshop workers than daughters, so they rebel and overthrow her. ...Umm, after that, i'm not quite sure what happens. But she comes back at the end, and there is love. And a lot of blood. I did pick out themes of destroyed innocence, naive cruelty, and tumultuous mother-child relationships, but honestly, for the most part, i just stood back and gaped. It goes without saying that Karen's voice sounded so so so beautiful live - although admittedly, i think i prefer YYYs songs to those that she wrote for Stop the Virgens.
Now, the COSTUMES. The virgens were, unsurprisingly, pure white - white wigs, eyes lined in white, clingy white strips of clothing wrapped around them. Karen wore the most PHENOMENAL outfits throughout the show - multi-layered tulle and silk crimson capes with gold tassels dotted on the inside, warrior dresses made of what looked like yak hair, puffy and pleated white dress trains that needed to be held up by several girls as she walked, fur erupting out of flowers and crab claws....
My own photos are of the stage set-up before the the show:
After the show, i dragged my dazed little self out of the theatre to wander around NYC for a few hours until my bus arrived....
And then it was off to MoMA! I have never heard such a high concentration of the French language being spoken in the United States as i did for the few hours i was inside that museum (of modern art). I tried to test my aptitude and eavesdrop, but failed miserably. Vos secrets sont en sécurité! (...sob)
No matter how much art you look at online, there is no replacement for slowly walking through a gallery, surrounded in every direction by mind-blowing paintings, drawings, and sculptures. You also can't play with the hilarious/adorable/expensive toys in the gift shop! As amusing as a pig pot cover is (the steam comes out through its nostrils!), though, i couldn't stay at MoMA forever. There was a show to catch!
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| The view from above. Yikes! |
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| This was a long panel of halogen light that gently changed from psychedelic color to psychedelic color. Trippy. |
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| A sketch by Dalí. The shadows, oh be still my heart! I am, by the way, obsessed with Dalí. |
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| The picture quality makes it not look like much, but i was blown away by how what appeared to be disorganized squiggles when viewed closeup formed into concrete objects as i backed away from the canvas. |
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| A profound meditation on the objectification of women and undue importance placed on female breasts. Alternative description: 3-D BOOBS! |
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| These prior two paintings are by Tanguy - i stood in front of them for longer than is socially accepted, ogling like a little goober... so maybe i just have a thing for surrealism. |
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| Not pictured: my right foot buried in one of these*. Gotta watch where you step! |
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| SALVADOR DALI I LOVE YOUR WORK SOBSOBSOB |
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| I always like looking at Klee paintings - he makes me feel so warm and fuzzy. |
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| I first saw this painting in a textbook when i was in middle school, and immediately fell in love. Those stark colors and lines, UNF BE MINE. |
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| Hmm, i wonder what that could be. |
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| Monet's water lily paintings were HUGE. |
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| See?! |
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| If you have never seen the movie "Frida", i highly recommend it! So visually arresting, with beautiful colors and camera angles all over the place. |
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| The City. |
DELICIOUS spicy ramen at Totto. They are notorious for long wait times, but since i was (forever) alone, i only had to wait about ten minutes! To be honest, the broth and noodles weren't as transcendental as i had made out in my mind; i prefer my own trademark spicy instant ramen recipe that i make whenever excusable. The highlights, though, are definitely the spicy sauce and tonkatsu pork - the sauce is peppery and full, and the pork is SO tender and juicy... my only regret is that i should have ordered more pieces of it!
After a long metro ride (where i saw Gala Darling's husband! I had to pinch myself!), i made it to Brooklyn for, finally, Stop the Virgens. We walked through a black tunnel, where a thin layer of gauze separated us from multitudes of moaning, whispering girls clad in white. As i passed by one of them, she mouthed in my ear, "The scum runs deep." I nearly peed myself. ANYWAY, the psycho-opera is no longer running, but i just want to put it out there that it was extraordinary (as in, so much more than ordinary). I honestly had trouble paying attention to the opera as a whole sometimes, because i was either shamelessly gaping at Karen, or at Brian or Chase playing their instruments on either side of the stage (i had no idea they'd be there!). There was a loose plotline involving a not-quite-human grand maternal figure (Karen) nurturing a young band of girls clad in white. She eventually starts treating them more like sweatshop workers than daughters, so they rebel and overthrow her. ...Umm, after that, i'm not quite sure what happens. But she comes back at the end, and there is love. And a lot of blood. I did pick out themes of destroyed innocence, naive cruelty, and tumultuous mother-child relationships, but honestly, for the most part, i just stood back and gaped. It goes without saying that Karen's voice sounded so so so beautiful live - although admittedly, i think i prefer YYYs songs to those that she wrote for Stop the Virgens.
Now, the COSTUMES. The virgens were, unsurprisingly, pure white - white wigs, eyes lined in white, clingy white strips of clothing wrapped around them. Karen wore the most PHENOMENAL outfits throughout the show - multi-layered tulle and silk crimson capes with gold tassels dotted on the inside, warrior dresses made of what looked like yak hair, puffy and pleated white dress trains that needed to be held up by several girls as she walked, fur erupting out of flowers and crab claws....
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| Source |
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| Source |
After the show, i dragged my dazed little self out of the theatre to wander around NYC for a few hours until my bus arrived....
Ginger tangerine sencha tea from Kyotofu, a tiny Japanese dessert and tea bar. I hung out there for a few hours, sipping tea, writing a few songs, and marveling at the milky bluish greyness of the sky. I had such a wonderful waiter - he was so kind and friendly. It also turns out that one of the lead actors in Stop the Virgens is his close friend! Small world.
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| Fresh ginger crème brûlée with green apple sorbet and vanilla bean tuile. I was planning just to get tea, but that waiter is good. He also didn't charge me for the tea because it apparently took an inordinately long time to arrive (which i didn't notice), so how could i say no? |
Alas, eventually, Kyotofu closed for the night and i spent the next hour huddling at a street corner, waiting for my bus to arrive. It eventually did - i boarded and sat down next to a nice old lady who waxed about the merits of a acetone and witch hazel skin regimen to me. The lights were totally dimmed inside the bus - is my could-be-better complexion really that obvious?!
It was such a great trip - not only did i get the opportunity to be surrounded by multiple priceless works of art, but i also realized for the first time that some of my idols are, in fact, real and human (as for the others, well, i'll just have to meet them sometime in the future, eh?). I didn't buy any souvenirs, save for a mini quince, rose, and cinnamon cheesecake from Victory Garden:
I gobbled it during the height of my customary post-trip depression. Ahhh.
With love,
Sia
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