The inaugral World Science Festival is being held in NYC this week(end) and I’m really happy to see the event getting tremendous support from New Yorkers and others that came to the city just for the event.  I was fortunate enough to catch the Richard Leakey give a talk at Columbia and then I went to the street fair near NYU today.  I was being lazy and forgot to buy tickets to a couple of events that I thought were interesting - I had the schedule of events for more than a week and procrastinated.  Oh well.

But coming back to the participation - I’ve seen a crapload of people showing up to all these events and I think that’s terrific.  All the events with simple science experiments got all the kids excited and there were plenty of lectures for the grown-ups.  It’s science, bitches, and it works.

I bet you didn’t see this coming. Very few people knew I was going, so I figured I’d keep it a secret from my blog readers (yes, all five of you). Anyway, this time, the photo gallery is over at my Picasa account. You’ll get the link once you read through what I have to say.

The last time I went to the NY International Auto Show, it was 2006 and the world was a better place, I think.  Some things were better than last time, and there were some notable absentees that I’ll get to in a minute. As you will see in the gallery, I took a LOT of pictures. 186 to be exact. I ran out of memory like 5 times during the show and had to keep deleting old pictures to fit new ones in.

Hands down, my favorite booth was the Lamborghini booth. Not only did it have three hot Italian beauties, but it was also the only booth to have “booth babes.” To make things even better, there were two more Lamborghinis in other parts of the show. 5 Lambos. It was orgtastic.

Ferrari was missing. Completely. And no Mitsubishi Eclipse. No Porsche Carrera either. I loved all the concept cars and cool new designs. Several manufacturers had actual engines on display and it was great to see just how complex these beasts really are.

My friend and I spent 3 hours at the show. Time flies. Spring Break’s over. Oh well.

Picasa Web Album

I don’t really know how to start so I’ll dive right in to the concert review. After a little background!

Porcupine Tree were last here in May and I was fortunate enough to catch them back then. Fear of a Blank Planet had just been released and the band all of it. Non-stop. Now, five months down the line, the band have released a new EP titled Nil Recurring and are back on tour. The setlist for this tour has been changed somewhat to accommodate the new material and also sees the return of some old fan favorites. The setlist for my show is featured at the end of post, annotated to indicate album!

So for a change, the show kicked off with What Happens Now? from the new EP. The mood was set and PT were on their way. Boy, did they rock the house! Steven Wilson was in a good mood throughout the concert and the crowd was fantastic. Hearing Dark Matter live was exhilarating! Anesthetize followed a new song, Cheating the Polygraph and some brief chatter from SW. He said, “Some of these new songs are hard to play you know! But this next one’s easy. It’s only 17 minutes long!” That cracked me up.

Towards the end of the main set, SW said, “We’re now going to play the last two songs” to which the crowd responded with a resounding “NOOOOOO.” With a grin on his face, SW shot back, “What do mean NO? We’re going to play the last two songs off the new record, not the last two for the night!” That was a signal for them to indeed play the last two tracks off FoaBP, Way Out of Here and Sleep Together. Both kicked some major ass and Sleep Together was great as a set closer. But I kept waiting and waiting and Blackest Eyes never came.

When the guys came back for an encore, SW said they would have to learn new songs when they return the next time. And then they kicked off the encore with Blackest Eyes. HELL YEAH!!! PT followed up my favorite with Even Less and Halo! What an encore! Sure, they didn’t play Trains, but I got to hear that last time around. This time, I got three tracks off the new EP, The Sound of Muzak, Even Less, Dark Matter, and A Smart Kid!!!

To sum it up, another great show by one of my favorite bands. The sound was probably better at the show in May but this one wasn’t too far behind in terms of quality and sheer energy. I hope they return soon with new songs and maybe play a larger venue! SW said, “We come here every six months but you guys still show up.” We will continue to show up to hear you guys play live!

Oh yeah, the opening band was Head>>Fake Sound System, a side project by Doug Wimbish and Will Calhoun of Living Color. Nothing special but Doug Wimbish was doing some real crazy shit with his bass. It was just the two of them, one on bass, one on drums, with a laptop providing some extra tunes to help them out. They didn’t play for long and PT came on right around 9pm. They finished a few minutes before 11. Tight performance.

SETLIST:

What Happens Now? Nil Recurring EP
Fear of a Blank Planet Fear of a Blank Planet
The Sound of Muzak In Absentia
Lazarus Deadwing
Cheating the Polygraph Nil Recurring EP
Anesthetize Fear of a Blank Planet
Open Car Deadwing
Dark Matter Signify
Nil Recurring Nil Recurring EP
A Smart Kid Stupid Dream
Way Out of Here Fear of a Blank Planet
Sleep Together Fear of a Blank Planet

Encore:

Blackest Eyes In Absentia
Even Less Stupid Dream
Halo Deadwing