Madonna's tasty treat...

Alright, so I know this hardly counts as a relevant entry, but, what the hell! I'm gonna post this anyway.

I've mentioned I'm a Madonna fan...a BIG one, right? Well, my Main Diva Bitch (yes, that's what I call her from time to time) has just released some deliciously sweet and juicy news, friends. She has a new album coming out at the end of April (I can hear my dad saying 'Oh shit...' all the way from Maryland right now) and she has finally revealed the album title. I know this is minor news to most of you but this is CRAZY news for me. The title is............

HARD CANDY.

A. I know it's the title of a movie that came out in 2005 with Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson.

B. I know it's apparently the title of an old Black Crowes album.

C. I don't really care about A and B.

D. I LOVE IT!

Seriously, I love the title. Just like I love most of her album titles. Now I'll just have to wait till April to see if I actually like the music, which is what really matters. She worked with Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, and a bunch of other hip-hop/pop people so I'm a little nervous, very curious, and, especially, super excited.

Alright, that's that. No more Madonna news for today, I promise. I mean, who do I think I am, Perez Hilton?

Hell no.

Love you all. Vogue.

Spice Up Your Life!!!!!!

About two or three weekends ago I went to see the one and only Spice Girls with my friends Michael and Angie. Michael was nice enough to get me a ticket for FREE. Amazing, right?!! He had gotten the tickets ages ago so by the time the show came around we were just busting...we needed some Spice in our lives!!!!!!!!

The day of the show I headed over to Michael's house in the East Village to see his new apartment. He's got this amazing studio which has been totally renovated and is actually not that expensive for the Village. Plus, it's pretty damn big. AND he's got a fire escape right outside his window which will be great during the summer. I mean if that place were mine I would be out there daily writing or reading or whatever.

Anyway, so then we hopped on the path train out to New Jersey where the show was. First, we stopped by Chili's to get some food and meet up with his old roommate, Angie. Let me just tell you that it was absolutely freeeeeeezing outside. The walk from the train station to Chili's was terrible. The walk back to the train after our meal was even worse because the winds were a blowin' people! Michael's scarf was actually whipped right off his neck. I chased it down in the middle of the damn street and managed to drop my iPod on the sidewalk. The wind was after my tunes, I'm sure of it. Anyway, it was chaos there for a minute.

Everything got better once we got back on the train and headed to the arena. First of all, we could tell that there were A LOT of people on the train who were also going to the show. Once we all got off the train and started walking toward the arena I shouted out "Spice up your life!" and immediately heard hoots and hollers in response. I love it!

We got inside the arena, made a few purchases (I was gonna get a shirt that said 'Who do you think you are?' which is my favorite Spice Girls song but they didn't have my size, bitches) and then finally got to our seats which were pretty damn great. The stage was HUGE and they had this catwalk extending out into the audience...very Madonna Confessions Tour...but I'll forgive them ;) Here's us before the show...
I know I look either stoned or ridiculously tired but I wasn't either, I promise! And look at Michael...ridiculous...he NEVER smiles in pictures.

After running to the ridiculously expensive bar a few times for some beers the time had finally come for the show to start. It was a full hour after the show was supposed to start and the arena was absolutely sizzling with Spiciness...we wanted our ladies up on stage NOW!!! Slowly but surely the music that had been playing since we got there started getting louder and louder, people were freaking out! Then, finally, the lights went down and the arena ERUPTED. We all started screaming and clapping, it was amazing!

After a brief video montage, the ladies finally appeared. Well, kinda. They appeared like this...The screens then came up and there they were...The Spice Girls. Spice up your life! Shake it to the left if you're having a good time! I wanna make you holla! The Spice Girls!!!!

Here's Michael and me reacting to their amazingness...
Hahahaha!!! Not gonna lie, I love that pic.

Here's some more Spicy goodness...See them walking down the catwalk with their male dancers on leashes?! Yes, ladies. YES.

Geri (Ginger Spice) isn't in the top pic cause they were singing Holla' which the Spice Girls released after she had left the group. Here she is looking fabulous in a sexy little outfit Roberto Cavalli designed for her. And by the way, her solo number was 'It's Raining Men'. I don't think I've ever felt gayer.Here's Mel C (Sporty Spice) doing her solo number. She really is a sporty, feisty girl! She was running and jumping all over that stage.Here are the five of them looking crazy sexy as they take in the crowd...And some random pictures...The finale. Confetti explosion!!! Here are some of my favorite Spice moments...

I don't remember what number this was but they sang some sexy, swanky song and came out of these little heart-shaped booths.Mel B (Sporty Spice) had a microphone with a whip attached to the end...no joke. During her solo number she picked a guy out of the crowd, strapped him onto this huge metal ladder thing, and then gave him a lap dance of sorts...craziness...My favorite part of the WHOLE show, though, had to be Victoria Beckham's (Posh Spice) solo. Excuse me, "solo"...oh boy. First of all, let me explain something that I haven't mentioned much, if at all, on this blog. I happen to be a Madonna fan. A HUGE Madonna fan. It's kinda ridiculous. I have all her albums and have seen her live 31/2 times. You read that right, 31/2. I'll explain that in another entry sometimes soon. Anyway! Posh began her "solo" to the opening of Madonna's song 'Like a Virgin' and when I heard the first few notes of the song I FREAKED OUT. Michael, also being a huge Madonna fan, also freaked out. We looked at each other, grabbed hands, and screamed into each others faces. True story. So 'Like a Virgin' is playing and Posh begins to strut down the catwalk and I mean STRUT. She was giving it to me. When she got to the end of the catwalk she gave us a few model poses and then sank back into the stage. And...that was it. That was her "solo" if you can even call it that. I'm not one to lie, though, so I am going to fully admit that I LOVED it. And everyone in the arena did, too! We were all screaming like we were watching some sort of goddess...which she isn't, people. Sorry. Actually, whenever Posh would do anything, like sing a verse or two here and there, everyone would start screaming and cheering...it was so strange! I guess it's because she's married to David Beckham and all the girls and gays felt a little closer to him by screaming like mad for her. Maybe? Here she is giving us a sensible pose...Another crazy thing that I noticed was that there were soooo many young people there. I mean, like, tweens! 13-15 year olds! I thought it was gonna be all 20-30 year olds who used to be fans years ago, but no! I guess the Spice Girls had a more lasting impact on the world than I thought they did. Also, I must admit that they were actually pretty damn good. They all sang great, danced wonderfully, gave us a lot of energy, and really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Although I didn't know as many of the songs as Michael and Angie did, I definitely was trying to sing along and remembered a lot more songs than I thought I would.

I think they got me, people, I think I'm actually a true Spice Girls fan now. Shit! I mean look at me...I was obviously having a blast.

So everyone...what's the message of this blog? SPICE UP YOUR LIFE!!!

I love you all. Peace.

My journey to JFK Airport

Sorry for not writing last night like I said I would. I got back from the movies last night and immediately started watching TV and was completely glued to The National Geographic Channel or Animal Planet or something equally as dorky. Oh wait! It was actually a show about some killer who looked online for someone who would willingly offer him or herself up to be eaten. WHAT??????? And guess what? Someone DID!!! Ew, gross. True story. Needless to say, I stayed up kinda late cause that show spooked me but I just wasn't in the mood to write.

I went to see The Spiderwick Chronicles last night. It was cute. Kinda silly every now and then, but cute. I mean it's a kids movie, it's supposed to be cute. My favorite thing about the whole movie had to be Mary Louise Parker, I just love her. I went with my friend Saum and we both agreed that no matter what she does she always manages to make us believe her. Seriously. There were hordes of goblins attacking her house at one point and she was just freaking out and I thought to myself, 'Yeah, that's probably how I would act if a horde of goblins were attacking my house.' She was hilarious.

But enough about that. This entry is about my trip to JFK Airport! Yesterday I accompanied Paul to the airport because he went to San Diego for the weekend to see a friend. I thought it would be a nice quick day trip, two hours tops. Oh no...no no no. First of all, we took the subway from around 160th street which is waaaaaaay uptown Manahattan for those of you who don't know. Here's a subway map just in case...

I think if you click on the image above it'll give you a bigger view of the subway map. Anyway, we got on the C train at the 163rd street station and then switched to the A train at the 145th street station which goes to the airport. Now try to find Howard Beach/JFK Airport on the A train line. See it way out there to the right??? Did you find it? WOW. That's a long ass trip, right?

Thankfully the train, like every NYC subway car, was filled with interesting people. Paul and I were treated to not one but two shows! The first was a cute little homeless man with these huge diva sunglasses who was singing his face off. Not kidding, he sounded a bit like James Brown hitting crazy high notes and wailing about women who had done him wrong. I know some people who read this may find it rude to find these performances entertaining since these homeless people are in such sad predicaments but you really should have seen this man. You would think he was having the time of his life.

What's really interesting is to see how most people recognize and get familiar with the homeless people who frequent their trains. The other night I was on the train up to Paul's house and the man I like to call the 'Lean back' man got on the train and started his show. He gets onto the most packed train he can find, grabs onto a pole for balance and then yells out "Lean back!" over and over as he, well, leans back further and further. You gotta see it to understand it but it is absolutely hilarious. He then begins telling bunches of jokes in both English and Spanish. Some of the ones I caught were, "What do you call a white person on fire? A firecracker!" I love it. "Why did Freddy Krueger kill Martin Luther King? Because he had a dream." What I'm saying, though, is that people recognize this man! When he started his "Lean back!" song some people actually started singing along with him! Only in New York, people.

Back to my A train to the airport story! Our second show on our long ass train ride consisted of two boys who turned up their boombox real loud and started break dancing for us. Now, these boys where very young so they weren't too good at what they were doing just yet. I've seen guys flipping over subway bars and throwing themselves all over the damn place on the train and it's really pretty amazing. But hey, at least these boys have the balls to get on the train and dance for a little extra money. What I especially loved about them was what they said once they were done. It went something like this, "Thank you for watching, ladies and gentlemen. We accept dollars, nickels, dimes, quarters, and American Express."

As we got further out the train began to quiet down a bit. Paul and I then met a couple from Ireland who were on their way to the airport as well. We spoke mainly to the wife who told us she lived in the North Western part of Ireland. Right at that moment I realized how badly I wanted to be on my way someplace fantastic like Ireland. Or even San Diego.

Once we got off the subway that feeling only got stronger. In order to get to the actual airport you have to ride an AirTrain which is kinda like the monorail at Disney World. It rides on an elevated track and gives you views of all the planes and terminals. The smell on the AirTrain was just like that smell on an airplane...and for some very strange reason I love that smell. I guess it kinda reminds me of when I was a bit younger; back then I always got to ride in airplanes since I lived all over the damn place. Once we left the AirTrain we walked to Paul's terminal, got him checked in, and then he was off. Aw :( He'll be back on Monday, though. Woo!

So, the trip back on the subway was a lot less entertaining because I was totally fed up with the trains and just wanted to get back home and eat. Which I did. A lot.

I guess that's my post for today. Kinda pointless, but hey, hopefully you learned something...um, about the NYC subway system? Whateva!

Love you all. Talk to you later.

San Diego stole my guy...boo...

Paul left for San Diego today. This is a terrible thing and also kind of a good thing. It's terrible, well, because I miss my boo! It's kind of a good thing because it's like practice.

Paul recently got a great job. He just joined the tour of The Backyardigans!!! I'm not quite sure what The Backyardigans really are but they're on Nickelodeon I think. Apparently this is what they look like...

Cute. Paul's gonna be playing an egg, a footman(whatever the hell that is), a dragon and some other crazy stuff, too. I don't see an egg or footman(?) up there but maybe that purple spotted thing is a dragon. Maybe? Hmmm...

Anyway, I'm very proud of him and am so excited to see him performing...especially as an egg. I love it!

What sucks is that he's gonna be leaving for 8 months. EIGHT. OCHO. Ouch. That's a lot of months. Especially since we haven't really been going out for that long and I was looking forward to seeing where all this would go. Also, since I haven't really had a boyfriend for a while and I've been having a lot of fun. But what I'm saying is that his little trip to San Diego is practice for me, you know what I'm saying?

Anyway, I'm kinda rambling without a point now. No good! I gotta run cause I'm gonna go watch The Spiderwick Chronicles at the IMAX theater! WOO! Hopefully I'll be back on tonight to write about the movie and especially about my trip out to JFK airport to drop off Paul. That damn airport might as well be in Egypt. LONGEST SUBWAY TRIP OF MY LIFE!!!

Bye for now.

Stuck at the office...

Well, here I am at good old Chelsea Studios where I work. We have two floors here filled with rehearsal spaces, the 5th and 6th floors. The 6th floor is usually hoppin' and I mean HOPPIN'...no G required. The rooms are always filled with auditions, rehearsals, dance classes, readings, martial arts people kicking and screaming, salsa dancers salsa-ing. It's nuts.

The 5th floor, well, it's a bit quieter. Not always, but usually. Today was a little different since NYU's Tisch School of the Arts auditions were here and especially since Billy Elliot the musical was holding their open dance call for girls. I got here and there were nervous high school auditioners and very very VERY excited little girls as far the eye could see. Thankfully, everyone was pretty much gone by around 5. Not bad at all. Now that the '7 o'clock shuffle' as I like to call it is over I decided to do a little writing. The '7 o'clock shuffle', by the way, is when most of the rooms have to be changed over to let the new night classes and rehearsals in.

If you haven't already noticed, I tend to digress. None of what I just wrote really has anything to do with this new blog, but whatever. Basically, since I'm on the 5th floor and there isn't too much happening right now I've decided to post a few videos which have provided me with A LOT of entertainment these past few days.

Let's begin with 'Stompadu'! I have a friend named Courtney who is a huge sweetheart. She teaches tap here at Chelsea so when she has a break she usually sits and chats with me. It's great fun when nothing much is going on at work. Also, she has kinda become my own personal masseuse. I love it! Although, if you saw her giving me a massage these days I'm pretty sure you'd come right up to me and slap me across the face. That's because she's definitely wearing a little neck brace right now. Is that what you call them? She wearing one of these...

My mama would be so proud. Haha. Right...

So that's what the brace kinda looks like. She doesn't have to wear it all the time, just most of the time. Unfortunately, her cervical spine is positioned in the wrong direction and I'm pretty sure two discs are pinching a nerve. She is getting a lot of treatment for it so hopefully she'll be all better very soon. So yeah, if you saw her rubbing my shoulders it would look kinda weird. Keep in mind though that she's a great tapper and was in a tap show the other day so she's still moving and dancing like crazy. It's all good. She's gonna be fine!

Again, I have strayed from my main point. Courtney showed me this video tonight of some performance that happened recently. It's a song from 'Xanadu' called I Wish I was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in my Hair) with some of the dancers from 'Stomp' as the beat and it's pretty great! Also, Courtney's friend Michelle (I think?) is in it. Here it is...

Pretty great, right?

Onto the next video. I've never known much about Judy Garland. As a kid I only knew about her because of 'Wizard of Oz' which I loved. Recently, though, I downloaded a few songs from her Carnegie Hall concert and was really blown away by her performance of The Man That Got Away. I looked online to see if I could find a video of her singing the song live and, guess what, I found one! Her performance is astounding and really inspiring. I truly believe the story she is telling through her song. I know that might sound like Musical Theater bullshit but I'm not kidding, she gives it for real. Here she is!

Finally, I'd like to introduce you all to Morgan. She's the cutest little demon baby EVER. I hope she makes you laugh as much as she makes me laugh!

See you all later!

Yesterday

Ok...I know I said I was gonna come back last night and let everyone know about my day yesterday but by the time my whole adventure had ended I was ridiculously pooped. Let's start where I last left off, shall we?

First of all let me introduce you to my BF, Paul. BF, by the way, is pronounced just like it looks...bfff. And BF of course means boyfriend. Yeah, I got a boyfriend and he's pretty great. I'm blushing, can you tell? Anyway, this is him...


That's actually what he looks like all the time.

Kidding! We were out that night celebrating his roommate Jen's 23rd birthday. He had just taken a shot of whiskey which, as you can see, damn near killed him. Side note, that night I actually ran into a friend from Bolivia! Talk about random. His name is Jammil Handal and I was pretty good friends with him around 6th or 7th grade I think. Crazy!

Anyway, back to yesterday. I was in a bit of a bad mood because I've been searching for an apartment for about two months now and I haven't found anything. It's been terrible. I've looked all over the damn place and have gone through plenty of broker's, but still, nothing. Paul and my good friend Saum have been nice enough to let me stay with them till I find a place. So, I had planned to meet with a broker yesterday to see a place but since it was President's Day that was out of the question. Shit. I was pissed. Also, I hadn't eaten and Paul and I were not really having each other. It was bad. But Paul had an amazing solution...FOOD!

We got dressed and headed down to Big Nick's, which is this wonderful little place which serves really affordable, delicious food. I had this enormous veggie burger ( yeah, I'm a vegetarian now) which I couldn't even finish. I'm usually a bottomless pit so this was just astonishing to me. As soon as we left I felt like a completely different person. So different, in fact, that Paul and I were singing Legally Blonde as we left the restaurant. Yikes. Actually, we were singing the end of Laura Bell Bundy's performance of So Much Better at Virgin Megastore in NYC. Here it is for anyone who hasn't seen it. You have to wait till the end to hear the good stuff.



I know, I know...I'm sooooo mean for putting this up here. But it's FUNNY! Also, I realize that she is ridiculously talented. I mean, most of the song leading up to the amazing finale is pretty great.

Enough of Ms. Bundy. We decided to go to Central Park and wander around because, although it was a little rainy, it was kinda warm. And Paul is a NYC expert since he went to school here so he knew all the cool places to show me.

First he took me to the Bethesda fountain which I've never been to. We took a bunch of pictures but they all turned out pretty terrible. I'm not much of a photographer...yet!


Pretty, isn't it?

Here are some pics from this nice walkway right by the fountain. Again, the pics didn't come out so well but whatever. Here they are!



After the fountain we decided to just get a little lost and wander around the random paths through the park. This is Paul lost in the wilderness...


I made him give me some acting. He's definitely lost, right? You totally believe him. I'm a great director, I know.

We happened upon this random castle that I'm pretty sure was used in the movie Stepmom. I love that movie. This is the castle...


After a quick stop by Shakespeare Garden we decided to go to yoga. Random. Just plain senseless and random. I take yoga at this place called Yoga to the People which is a donation based studio. I absolutely love it. They kick my ass but it's great for me. Also, if you don't really have the funds to pay the $10 suggested donation you can pay $2 for a mat and that's it!!! On our way out of the park I saw something just plain bonkers. Yes...bonkers. This...


Really, Diana? Really???

Aaaaaanyway! Yoga was great. Well, Paul wasn't really having it but I needed it. After yoga we decided to stop by BXL which is this Belgian restaurant that my wonderful future roommate Ashley works at. Here's where the shit hit the fan. Ashley knows that I usually want a Tripel Karmeliet when I go into BXL so out she came with it. Tripel Karmeliet is this sexy ass Belgian beer which I just love. Having two after a yoga class is NO GOOD though.

After BXL, Paul and I decided to make dinner...at 12am. Yup. It's all the beers fault. So off we went to Food Emporium where we picked up salmon and a ceasar salad. Once we arrived at his house we started our cooking extravaganza and were joined by his roommate Josie and her friend Brittany. The food was amazing. Paul and I came up with this olive oil, garlic, lemon and onion salmon concoction which was just to die for if I may say so myself. Oh! I just remembered that Josie gave us an amazing performance last night. She told us all about her Ghanaian mother AS her Ghanaian mother. No joke, her accent was spot on and she was absolutely hilarious. Can't wait to meet the mama now.

And that was that! Just another day in the big city. I hope I kept your attention; I realize I wrote A LOT. I'll get better at all this, I promise!

I Love New York

My second blog! This is PROGRESS, people.



Well, I'm sure most of the people who will end up visiting this blog know exactly who I am and what I do and what I'm like, etc. But just in case some random person happens to stumble through I guess I should let that person know a little about myself, right? Right!



Again, my name is Jonny. I'm 23 and I now live in New York City. Before making the leap to this enormous city I lived in Virginia, Maryland, Brazil, Bolivia, Hawai'i, Nicaragua, Michigan, and Boston! Insanity. As crazy as all that traveling was I wouldn't trade it for anything, of course. Hopefully I can find some random pics from my life way back then; the days when I was just a little jungle boy running around barefoot in a loincloth catching snakes and climbing trees while my mother roasted the boar my father had caught earlier in the day with his bow and arrow.

Seriously.

But I have most definitely digressed. Back to my point! I'm gonna try to dig up some pics from way back then to show you guys how it all really went down. I'll also keep everyone up to date on what happens day to day here in the big city! That is, if I can muster up the will to keep this blog up. We'll see! It's already a lot more fun than I thought it was gonna be!

I'm hungry, though, so you'll have to wait till later to see what happens on this rainy day in New York City. Suspense! Can you feel it?!

And I'm off...

Oh! Hello there!

My name's Jonny. I'm starting this blog for one very specific reason...I am terrible at talking on the phone. Just no good at it. Don't know why. Because of that unfortunate problem I frequently lose touch with friends...friends who get pretty pissed at me when I don't call. So! This blog is the solution! It's a fantastic way of keeping my friends and family up to date on my life.

So, if ever you are going through your day and suddenly you ask yourself, "I wonder how Jonny's doing...hmm...", you can find out right here! Do you love it? Cause I do. I love it!

Amazing. Let's get this started...