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A Grand Time

19 May

Diddy was there. So were Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Mayer (minus Jennifer Aniston), Alicia Keys, Josh Groban, Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Quincy Jones, Jon Secada, actor Jeffrey Wright, Village Voice columnist Michael Musto, and DJ AM.

Apparently, Nick Cannon (aka the new Mr. Mariah Carey), Kim Kardashian, Whoopi Goldberg, CariDee English from America’s Next Top Model, Pepa from the hip hop group Salt-N-Pepa, and Jenny McCarthy were there, too.

And you know who else was at the exclusive, black-tie, invite-only Grand Opening of the new MGM Grand at Foxwoods? That’s right: me. I snagged a V.I.P. pass to the hottest party in Connecticut this weekend, and the event certainly lived up to the hype. Here are some highlights. Continue reading →

Play Ball!

12 Mar

As promised, here is a link to many of my pics from my trip to Florida, where I went to three spring training games: Dodgers vs Cardinals on Friday in Vero Beach, Orioles vs Mets on Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, and Orioles vs Dodgers on Monday in Fort Lauderdale. Plenty of Nomar, Millar, Torre, Juan Pierre, and other players — if that’s what you’re into. And if it is, click here to see the photos.

Welcome Home

11 Mar

I touched down at Logan Tuesday night happy to be home. Happy to be out of the sun, and happy to let my sunburn fade and peel off. And of course, I have much to look forward to in the next couple weeks with my new condo. But I have to say, all that aside, few things made me happier to be home than to get off the plane and hear James Taylor’s soothing, dulcet voice singing “You’ve Got a Friend” over the airport PA system. I’m sure it was just a coincidence, but what a nice thing to get off the plane and hear music from a Boston-based artist. I’m not saying I would have had the same reaction if I’d heard, oh, “More than a Feeling” or “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” so I guess this was just the right song at the right time. It made the fact that a great vacation was over feel that much easier.

Dodger Blue, Cardinal Red, and Oriole Orange

8 Mar

The good news is that, despite reports to the contrary, Nomar Garciaparra is, in fact, signing autographs down in Florida at Dodgertown, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ spring training home. I know this because I saw it first-hand on Friday when me and my dad took a day trip up to Vero Beach for some baseball action. This was our second annual father-son bonding/spring training trip, and the first of what will be three games this weekend. (Last year we saw the Sox in Fort Myers; this year we couldn’t get tickets. What a surprise.)

Dodgertown is a pretty cool place to spend the day. It’s a complex, and the practice fields and the stadium (more like a field with seats for the fans) are all in one place. And that allows for more up-close-and-personal interaction than you would get, say, in Fort Myers at this point in spring training. I got some great great photos (stay tuned for more of those later) and we talked with Tommy Lasorda and were inches from the players — especially during the game, when we sat about a foot behind the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen. Joe Torre was there, as were Don Mattingly, Todd’s favorite out-maker Juan Pierre, Derek Lowe, etc. etc. And Albert Pujols and Nomar both hit homers. Oh, and they serve Dodger Dogs at Dodgertown, too. Yum.

So what could be bad? Well, while we were enjoying ourselves, I roasted. And now I’m all red around my neck and on my face and arms. Appropriately, it’s the same color as the Cardinals’ uniforms. But it was worth it. We had a great time.

Today we went to Fort Lauderdale Stadium to see the Orioles and the Mets play. That’s really all we could do. It’s not a terribly big place and aside from the game, there’s not much to see. The Mets sent their B-squad, so the big deal for me was seeing Kevin Millar, who didn’t disappoint. He’s a fan fave, still quick with a joke, and he went 1-3. Same ole Millar.

Even though these weren’t the best ballgames I’ve seen, it’s still really cool to hear the crack of the bat again, and more importantly, to see the players doing what they (and I) enjoy so much. Spring is here, my friends. And in just a few weeks, summer will follow right behind. Bring it on.

Destination Anywhere

13 Feb

If you learned one day that you could teleport anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice, where would you go? Paris? Rome? The South Pole? And would you use this power for good or for evil? Whatever your choice, I hope you don’t choose to go to a movie theater to see Jumper, a movie about a guy (played by Darth Vader himself, Hayden Christensen) who can teleport anywhere he wishes. When he’s 15, David Rice (that’s Christensen’s character), learns he has the skill and he decides to run away from his unhappy life in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and head to New York, where he robs banks and travels the world, and becomes a spoiled, selfish brat. But Rice has never gotten over his childhood crush, Millie, so eight years later he returns home to find her. Lucky for David, Millie has grown up to look a lot like Summer Roberts (yes, Millie is played by the lovely Ms. Rachel Bilson). And they live happily ever after.

Yeah, if only. You see, hot on Rice (and all Jumpers)’s trail is Samuel L. Jackson, leader of the Paladin organization, whose goal is to kill Jumpers — deemed too powerful to exist. Thankfully, Rice meets Griffin (Jamie Bell), another Jumper, who is trying to take down the Paladins. And somewhere in this plot is David’s mother (Diane Lane), who abandoned David when he was just five years old, but who has some unexplained connection to the action.

I guess it all sounded cool. And after all, the movie was directed by Doug Liman, whose credits include Go, The Bourne Identity, Swingers, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith — all good, fun, exciting movies. Surprisingly, there’s none of the zip found in those films here. But I don’t necessarily blame Liman. Instead, I blame Christensen, who is without a doubt one of the worst actors working today — if he can even be called an actor. His stiff performance and almost monotone delivery of the lines conveys almost no excitement at all. He only emphasizes how lame some of the dialogue is. But worse is the fact that he has, like, zero chemistry with Bilson. Come on, man, she’s smokin’! Christensen must not read GQ. (Of course, he gets the last laugh because the two are dating in real life. What a bastard.) Anyway, Jumper features some relatively cool effects and Bell is certainly the most engaging member of the cast (one wonders if he should have played David), but overall this is a pretty stupid flick.

Now, after all that, you may be wondering where I would go if I could teleport. The answer is easy: Portland, Oregon, so I could see Erin and explain to her that even if a movie is free, and even if it’s only 88 minutes long, and even if the cast includes Rachel Bilson and Diane Lane, going home to watch American Idol is always the better option. I’m giving Jumper a C-.

Marty at Mardi Gras

5 Feb

I’ll have plenty more experiences this year, but chances are good that few will be as cool or as fun as standing on a Mardi Gras float throwing out beads to thousands of people yelling and screaming for more.

That’s exactly what I was doing Saturday night in Galveston, Texas, home of the second largest Mardi Gras celebration in the country (after the one in New Orleans, of course).

It’s estimated that 250,000 people were out along the parade route — rich, poor, black, white, young, old, etc. — and there were times when it was truly overwhelming seeing so many people cheering and clamoring for these cheap beads.

It was totally fun targeting people in the crowds and tossing beads to them. Or watching adults push past kids to grab the things. Or holding off until someone “deserved” the beads.

Man o man, was that a good time. Continue reading →

Bright Guy, Big City

9 Dec

So yeah, I took a couple days off from work last week and spent them down in New York.

And for the first time in a long while, most of the time was spent in the city, playing tourist.

Here are some snapshots from the weekend.

O Christmas Tree: Bean, meet the Christmas tree at 30 Rock. Decided to get my Christmas on, so I spent a bit of time at Rockefeller Center trying to take the perfect picture of the big tree (after all, it’s never too early to start working on next year’s A Very Marty Xmas CD). But as I kept learning, it’s hard to take a picture of a lit-up tree at night. My damned camera didn’t seem to want to focus. This one here is probably the best one I took.

Number one or number two, it’s completely up to you: Best thing ever was Charmin’s second annual, temporary, free public restroom next door to the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. That’s all it is. You go up a tall escalator, wait on line, and you get to use one of the 20 or so toilets. They were spotless (cleaned after each use), colorful, and the attendants were having such a good time helping out that it was hard not to smile. As marketing gimmicks go, this one was pretty fun. And it was really convenient, because at the time, I really had to go.

People watching: Mitzi, Fetus, and I had a very very very minor celeb sighting Thursday night when we spotted Danny, from the New Orleans cast of The Real World, in the Times Square Toys ‘R’ Us just wandering around. And it occured to me how none of the current viewers of that show must know who he is. I think I also saw Andre 3000 from OutKast there. Oh, and Sean Dugan, an old college roommate, was on the same train into the city on Friday, but we didn’t get a chance to talk. And though she’s also on Broadway these days, in Cyrano de Bergerac, you’ll be happy to know I did not stalk wait for Jennifer Garner outside the stage door.

Flame on: Turned a corner at 9th and 44th on Friday and saw this taxi on fire. No one seemed to know how or why it happened. And while I knew the thing could have exploded at any second, for a change I did the stupid thing and got out my camera to take a picture, instead of running for cover. (What?! It’s not like the other people doing the same thing were any smarter than me.) Thankfully, the NYFD showed up just in time and put the fire out.

Show time: As I’ve previously mentioned, seeing Spring Awakening was unexpected. Here’s why. After lunch with Anna on Friday, I decided to hang out in Times Square and go to a couple places, then head back to meet up with Mitzi, Jason, and Fetus for dinner. Long story short, a couple guys on the corner of Broadway and 44th were selling discounted tix to a few shows, including Spring Awakening. Of course I was skeptical, and I did some background checks, even asking a cop a few feet away if he knew if the guys on the corner were scalpers. As it turned out, they were totally legit. So I took the chance, changed my plans, and saved $40 on top seats (12th row center) for what ended up being an awesome show. Money well-spent, even if at the time I felt like I was a total sucker buying Broadway show tickets from a random guy on the street.

Hmmmmm…:Believe it or not, I so enjoyed the day and a half that I spent in New York City that for maybe 15–30 minutes I actually thought about moving there. The cold winds snapped that thought out of me quickly enough, but I suppose that only goes to show you how good a time I had in the Big Apple. I need to do stuff like this more often.

Still a Toddlin’ Town

16 Jul

Went back to Chicago this weekend for Andrew and Fun Summer Rachel’s wedding. As always, a good time was had; Chicago is truly — say it with me — my kind of town. Here are a few tidbits from the weekend:

They did: The wedding itself was great. Very nice venue. An awesome band had me up and dancing all night. Andrew sang “Some Kind of Wonderful” (and he was good). Sat with all of Andrew’s doctor friends from Boston — it was just like old times when I was the only non-doctor in the room. Wine was tasty. Bride was beautiful. Good to see the boys from the bachelor party again. The couple was so so happy. And I had a blast.

Swingtown in Chi-Town: After the wedding and the after-party, Robin and I hung out at the bar at the Four Seasons with members of Steve Miller’s band. Yes, the Steve Miller Band. We talked for a bit with his manager and met one of his guitarists, but the man himself was MIA. Apparently, Steve “doesn’t do the ‘hang out thing’ anymore,” his manager told us. So I replied that he must just “Take the Money and Run.” And we went back and forth with similar references. On the way out, I seized an opportunity. Knowing I’d likely never again have the opportunity to hang out with the Steve Miller Band or their manager, I asked the manager what “the pompatus of love” is. His reply? “Hell if I know. Steve just likes to make stuff up.” And there you have it. (Incidentally, Robin got to hang out with Joe Cocker earlier in the day on Saturday. Apparently, the Four Seasons chain is quite popular among touring singers.)

Back to the Bean: I just can’t help it sometimes. Like a moth to a flame, I’m drawn to the same places over and over when I visit. In Los Angeles, it’s the Getty Center. In Chicago, it’s Cloud Gate, aka the Bean, which I think I’ve now taken every conceivable picture of. I just think it’s so cool. But considering this was the first time I’d been to Chicago in warm weather (the other times were in October and November), I felt compelled to revisit some sites I’d seen on previous trips, like Buckingham Fountain (which was going at full blast) and Navy Pier. And yes, I took a ton of pictures at all three of these places. Actually, the ones at Navy Pier are pretty cool because I went up in the Ferris Wheel and the view was real nice.

Good food, bad food: Another trip to Chicago and again I didn’t eat at Ed Debevic’s. (Most would say that’s a good thing, though.) Instead, on Saturday I went with Samara to Giordano’s for lunch for some Chicago-style stuffed pizza. Yum. So good, but so so filling. One slice was enough. And that one slice sat in my stomach for most of the day. Ugh. On the other hand, I tried the new SoBe Coolatta from Dunkin’ Donuts this weekend. In addition to the sugar in the coolatta itself, now it has an extra kick. And, it tastes good. So … I’ll be needing one of those Monday morning.

Anyway, it was a great weekend. If you want to live vicariously, here are my pictures.

Spiderman, Worms, and Funny Money

6 May

It’s probably better if I didn’t post anything about what happened during Andrew’s bachelor party in Miami this weekend. After all, it was a bachelor party … in Miami Beach … with 15 guys. Make your own assumptions about what kinds of activities we did.

But if I let it pass without making some kind of comment, then what kind of service would I be offering you, oh dear readers of mine? So let me at least say that a good time was had and yes, it involved all the necessary elements of debauchery. Continue reading →

Sox Shots

10 Mar

If you’re interested, I’ve posted photos from Monday, when I went to see the Red Sox in Fort Myers. To see them, just click on this link. Enjoy!

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