Someone Like Me

This is a song called "Someone Like Me" from Cyndi Lauper's underheard album (and for me, her masterpiece) Hat Full of Stars.

Cyndi's legacy to pop music will suffer because most of her best songs were never heard by a mass audience. Also, the instrumentation and production on her records are such a product of their time that today much of her music can sound dated.

That is the case with "Someone Like Me." But don't listen that way. Just hear the message. It's a song of self-discovery, of epiphany, that "aha moment" when you realize you deserve better than what you've settled into. I had one of those realizations recently myself, which is why I dug out this old gem.

And now I'm like singing it in the shower, cleaning the house to it, dancing around in my turban singing to a swiffer, "what's someone like me doing in a life like that?"

enjoy. hang in there. and be encouraged.

It's that time again

Did I Go Through With It? (Beard Blog 5)

DID I GO THROUGH WITH IT???

Well obviously Hurricane Sandy threw a wrench into my plans (and a Snapple machine in my general direction). Here's how I'm coping, what's in store, and the future of my beard!

Another Radio Appearance

Click Below to hear my post-hurricane wrap-up with Morning Radio Masterminds Bob & Sheri

Sloan on the Phone: SANDY'S AFTERMATH

The Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in Pictures

Here's me serving Trash-Heap Eleganza on a recently landed Snapple machine. There's more 

AFTER THE JUMP

The Bob & Sheri Show

This morning I was featured on the nationally syndicated morning drive radio program The Bob & Sheri Show talking about Hurricane Sandy and how her impending wrath has affected the people of NYC. Click the link to listen to my segment, known as "Sloan on the Phone"

Hurricane Sandy! (Beard Blog 4)

an update on both the impending storm AND my impending beardlessness...

Share! Create! Unite!

The National School Climate Center recently held a fundraiser in midtown Manhattan to benefit it's anti-bullying initiative known as BULLYBUST: PROMOTING A COMMUNITY OF UPSTANDERS.

Attendees participated in a silent auction, bidding on items from jewelry to vacation packages. Also on hand was Satya Jewelry selling special bracelets featuring Gonesha, Hindu god known as the "remover of obstacles," and onyx, a gem they say is the "stone of endurance" and guides decision-making in challenging times.

Cassandra Bankson is a model and viral-video-internet-starlet who attended the event as the spokesperson for NSCC. She told the compelling story of her battle with bullying that became so severe, she left school to seek one-on-one instruction. (How's that for an ugly duckling story?!)

Donate to Decorate

Boy Meets Girl donated hoodies that people were able to decorate with words of encouragement to bullying victims. The hoodies were then to be donated to area schools working in conjunction with NSCC.

Also in attendance was Lee Hirsch, filmmaker and award-winning director of the documentary film Bully. Hirsch talked about the making of and the resulting impact of his film. It's a must-see. Check out the trailer below...

The Story of My Beard: episode 3

The Story of My Beard: episode 2

The Story of My Beard: episode 1

Me, my beard, and my quarter-life crisis...

Sad truth...

from an Anonymous New Yorker...

"Just when I get one aspect of my life together, I'll be damned if something else don't fall the fuck apart."

Seen Around Town: Upper Harlem

Give Me a Beat!

Yesterday I was walking around Union Square and noticed a drummer setting the rhythm for all the people walking by. Nearly everyone synched his or her gait to the drummer's beat as they passed. The performer is Alex Green.

Copy Editing The City

The M line is supposed to be ORANGE

The City's Best Muffin

Recently on a walk from Tribeca, I cut through China Town on my way to the Lower East Side. It's no surprise that certain parts of China Town at certain times of day smell bad. Fish market deliveries? This was one of those times.

But as I was walking I found an olfactory oasis. I stopped dead in my tracks when I smelled this sweet scent wafting about me. Then, like a bloodhound I spun around and followed my nose back to a small and nondescript storefront whose very existence would have been swallowed up in the painted scenery of Eldridge Street were it not for that glorious AROMA. Said oasis turned out to be called Panade Puffs and Pastries. The smell had been fresh mixed berry muffins baking in the oven.

After waiting five minutes for them to come out of the oven, I enjoyed an iced coffee and a muffin on a bench out front.The muffin was hot and sweet and light and moist and finished with a thin layer of just-crisp crust. You Must Go.

Traif, a Brooklyn Blemish

The thing one must become accustomed to when dining in the City is the propensity of restaurateurs to regard your patronage as a privilege THEY have bestowed upon YOU. And it makes me sick.

Dialogue with a pretty, often pre-occupied hostess usually begins something like this:
"Um. Hi. Do you need a table or something? Well the wait is going to be about 3 hours, so unless you have a reservation you might just wanna go fuck yourself. Theeenks."

And so it was, a few nights ago when a companion and I wandered into TRAIF on the outskirts of Williamsburg that we were greeted and treated in a similar fashion.

I won't bog down this post with details from the horrific service experience we were subjected to courtesy of a pert, self-important pig claiming to be the owner, but I will mention that the food (though downright stingy in proportion) was interestingly put together, however it took well over a half-hour to be delivered to the table we were SO LUCKY to have been seated at.

Oh, and do you know what TRAIF means? It means any food that is non-kosher. By the way, the restaurant is situated right in the middle of a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood. There's something about this that I find to be in poor taste.

My recommendation? How shall I put this? I'd sooner go hungry than ever return.

AfroPunk Festival

August 25 & 26 saw the return of the AfroPunk Festival at Commodore Barry Park in Fort Greene. Headlining acts at this free event were Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae, but the real stars of the weekend were the 30,000 attendees from punks to fashionistas to the fabulous of all complexions.

Shameless Self-Promotion

The Urban Boy Scout will no longer be used as a hub for my published works.

To stay abreast of my non-TUBS-related writing career, you may follow BySloanRollins.tumblr.com.