I just got back from a wonderful jog around the neighborhood, I've had my cup of coffee, and even though it's already 2pm, I am ready to conquer this day.
The last you heard from me, it was Saturday, and I was on my way out the door to an "awesome free festival/concert". I was a little off the mark when I called it "awesome"... because it ended up being INCREDIBLE.
Thanks to my wonderful roommate, Allison, I received a free ticket to the first ever Global Citizen Festival in Central Park. This wonderful event was a musical festival put in place to raise awareness and funds for extreme poverty all over the globe.
The featured artists were K'Naan, Band of Horses, The Black Keys, Foo Fighters, and Neil Young with Crazy Horse... who were all just wonderful.
There were several celebrity guest speakers (ranging from Selena Gomez to Olivia Wilde), and even a surprise performance...
... by John Legend! He sang John Lennon's "Imagine". I melted. It couldn't have been more beautiful.
Oh, and did I mention HOW MANY PEOPLE were at this event? Over 60,000. It. Was Insane. (It completely blew Bon Iver's Radio City Music Hall concert out of the water as far as attendance goes... and I thought that was a lot of people).
The festival was also streamed live via the web, and in total, there were over 1 million people tuned in from around the globe... apparently making this the biggest live stream in HISTORY. (My mom was visiting her parents last weekend, and all three of them were watching while I was there. Technology is so neat.).
I actually just received an email from the Global Citizen team, and it looks like the festival platform was able to secure $1.3 billion in funding commitments for projects helping fight extreme poverty! How cool is that? Way cool.
Sooo, that was that. My last Saturday afternoon/evening in a nutshell. We were all a little delirious as the festival began to come to a close... 6 hours of standing in a mass of people wears on you a little after awhile. But it was such a fun night!
On Sunday, Allison and I ventured down to the annual Atlantic Antic festival held in Brooklyn Heights. I still have no idea what the purpose of the festival was (other than to bombard your senses with a million different food cart choices), but it sure was popular!
This is just one shot that I took while I was walking down the road... the whole festival stretched for over a mile, and it was wall to wall with people the whole time. There were roasted corn vendors, ice cream vendors, lemonade vendors, funnel cake vendors, turkey leg vendors (blech), etc etc etc.
Allison and I both decided to split up after awhile, because she wanted something salty and I wanted something sweet (per usual). I wandered all the way to the end of the festival and wound up with a delicious cheesecake brownie thing from some vendor.
Anyone from Charlotte: This was basically just like Matthews Alive... only ten times larger.
Alright. Let's skip ahead a few days (because basically all I did from Sunday evening until Thursday was work on homework and projects and papers. yadda yadda).
Last night, I had my first ever show here in New York City (at Googie's Lounge... the little space above The Living Room)!
And I had SUCH a wonderful time. After a bit of a debacle getting to the venue (I ended up having to forgo the subway system and flag down a cab... in a dress, and wedges, and with my guitar and uke in tow), I did a quick soundcheck, and a little after 10:30pm, I started the show. Many of my lovely Belmont East friends came out to support me (as well as several other friends that have come into my life who live here in NYC). I couldn't have asked to spend the evening with more incredible people. I would love to book another show before I leave New York, so hopefully that can happen soon.
And here we are. Today. Present time. As I said, I just got back from a little run around the beautiful neighborhood. On my way back up to the room, I stopped by the mailbox, and look what has arrived from North Carolina!
My absentee ballot. I can now officially vote :). This is great news.
I hope you all have a fantastic Friday! I am off to work on more homework and enjoy this delicious Trader Joe's pear:
Tomorrow morning, I'm off to eastern North Carolina to sing in a wedding. I absolutely love weddings. And I can't wait to see Miss Brooke Weathington get married!
<3
Nat
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