Things to Do in NYC - Coney Island

I had a friend visit me from out of town last week, and it was a great excuse to hit up some touristy, NYC things that I've never seen before, like going to Coney Island.

My list of Coney Island references was pretty short: A Mitch Albom book, a Death Cab for Cutie song, a vague Boardwalk Empire image....and that's about it.

Its a very charming park at the southern tip of Brooklyn. The immediate area around Coney Island is a bit depressed. There's a strange feeling there - it was once a major attraction in the early 1900s, and now there are mostly skeletons left. Once we got into the park area, the mood lifted a bit, and it felt like any other beach boardwalk.

The rides are beautiful to look at, thought I'm not sure I'd want to take a ride. The Wonder Wheel was built in 1918, and the Cyclone is one of America's oldest operating wooden roller coasters.

I had to take a vegetarian-hiatus and try a Nathan's hot dog. It was worth it.

The beach was pretty clean, and fairly busy. I'm always surprised at how nice New York beaches are. Summer is finally here!

Life is a Cabaret (obvious musical reference.)

This weekend was my first NYC cabaret experience. These cabarets are usually a group of 10-20 performers who take turns singing songs at the mike for an audience of their family and friends. Popular performance venues are The Duplex or Don't Tell Mama's which are bars with small stages attached to them.

Some cabarets are a bit scammy. The organizers prey on just-off-the-bus talent and pressure them to sell tickets to their friends. Not only is there the ticket price, there's a two drink minimum. By the end of the night your loving, supportive friends end up shelling out $50 and had to sit through 15 other songs and only heard you sing once. I've been approached for a cabaret where you have to sign a contract, which is a huge red flag. If you didn't reach the ticket minimum, you owed the producer 10% of the rehearsal rental cost. Why should I pay you for the opportunity to sing? You should be paying me!

The Blackbox Theater at Joria Studios

This cabaret was a little different and much looser. It was held at a 55-seat blackbox theater in Chelsea, with an open bar included in the $20 ticket price. That's pretty cheap for drinking in Manhattan! The house was close to full both nights, and the audience was tremendously supportive, cheering before and after every performer. Due to the open bar, the room slowly got drunker as the night went on. I've got to say - I think I perform better with a drink in me!

This experience was an eye-opener. I got to try out some new rep that I absolutely love, but have never been able to do more than sixteen bars. I've always leaned towards the legit musical theater side of the industry, but I challenged myself to try to sing in a more contemporary style. I got some great feedback, and will get some video footage soon.

After the show with my Kentucky Shakes friend, Shannon

As someone who auditions constantly, singing an entire song is such a blessing! In New York you can feel that no one has time for you, especially in audition situations. You might get 32 bars if you are lucky. I've been doing abbreviated clips for so long, that I've forgotten what its like to tell a complete story; to enjoy the journey of the song and take your audience along for the ride.

The best way to get seen in this city is to make your own work, stay creative and perform as much as possible. In that vein, I've decided to put together my own one-woman show to go up at the end of August. This is something that has been cooking in my brain for some time, but now I've finally got the guts to actually do it. I have so many songs that I love and am dying to share with an audience, I have a business degree, I'm pretty savvy, so....why the hell not?

Maybe I'll call my show, "Brightly, Brittany."

The Magic of Spray Paint

Your personal environment should be an expression of who you are. I've been living in my current apartment for a year now, and it's just now starting to come together. I have a lot of second hand decorations and cheap, quick purchases bought from Amazon. Something about my room never quite felt like it was my space, so I've been redecorating like a fiend.

Before {via}

My budget is pretty tight, so I had to be creative with what I already had around the house. I had this pretty cheap plastic bookshelf that is probably not meant as a piece of decor. Simple plastic interlocking tubes, nothing sexy.

After!

I finally got around to DIYing my eye sore of a shelf. It's amazing what a can of spray paint can do!

I knew I wanted something brightly colored, and went for the Ocean Mist Krylon spray paint. There were so many fun colors, it was hard to choose just one! No primer needed, just one can of paint and the makeover was complete!

I love this shelf now. It's a fun color that brightens up the room, and I didn't need to invest in another pier of furniture. It's still detachable plastic, so any future moving should be a breeze.

I swapped the curtains for pair I already had, finally installed my paper lamp, and pulled it all together a set of brightly colored peacock paintings from TJMaxx.

I may be addicted to spray painting. My new goal is to spray the living room furniture so it looks a little bit more like it goes together.

Plastic rolling drawers, I'm spray-painting you next!