Since driving Bessie to New York City in 2006 I’ve always felt like a heat wave begins once I get to town. This weekend was no exception. On Friday when I picked up 1,000 Ben & Jerry’s treats, it was 103 in NYC, and felt like 118. You might think that’s perfect weather for ice cream, but people rarely leave their AC in such delirious heat.
For our first stop we met The Futurebirds outside the Standard Hotel for a little busking action. The band kindly stopped by to play on a corner for us and our friends at Spotify. I highly recommend checking out The Futurebirds on Spotify (Futurebirds), especially if you’re into ‘Southern’ music.
Saturday was spent at Prospect Park for Celebrate Brooklyn with The Feelies, Real Estate and Times New Viking. I drove to Fort Greene to pick up the crew (all FIVE of them piled in the truck somehow) and on the way to the park we rocked The Feelies’ new album “Here Before” (The Feelies – Here Before) on Spotify via the iphone app. Not quite 100 on Saturday, but still hot. The best part of the day was when The Feelies joined us in the park to play a song for “Summer Jammin,” which was quite the honor.
After that we hung out with Dent May (Dent May) and his band as they messed with the Omnichord to play their new single “That Feeling.” Next we headed inside to sling some cream to the wonderful workers backstage and they loved it. Check out the Dent May episode of our Summer Jammin’ tour with Spotify on Pitchfork TV.
Spent some some time finding dry ice to keep all the ice cream cold, then our friend Abbey clued me into the Swirlies/Psychedelic Horseshit show at the South Street Seaport and it worked out perfectly to unload some cream and catch some more great live music. Y’all know how lucky you are to have so many free summer shows in NYC?
We’re off to Newport Folk Fest this weekend and will be slinging lots of pops and getting some great video footage for “Summer Jammin” too, so stay tuned!
Catch up with @icecreamman on his weekend’s epic adventures!