April 16, 2004 [Friday]......Andy Warhol display
After work I detoured via 10th avenue to go to the Paul Kasmin Gallery where there was an exhibition of some Andy Warhol prints. All these shows in Chelsea usually run one month and today was the last day this one was on, so I got in just in time.

April 14, 2004 [Wednesday]......NHL Playoffs
With the Rangers well out of the hockey playoffs, my only chance to see a game was to see the NJ Devils, who won the whole thing last year. I saw game 4 tonight of the first round against the Philadelphia Flyers, which was the first hockey game I went to in Jersey. The Devils lost, but it was a very high standard game, which you don't always get with the Rangers. The Devils ended up losing the first round and were knocked out of the playoffs, so I was glad to see this game tonight.

April 12, 2004 [Monday]......Beyonce in Concert
Tonight we were back at MSG for the big Beyonce concert. Missy Elliot started off the show with a bang and then Alicia Keys played for an hour before Beyonce came out. Both Alicia and Beyonce were fantastic, with great live voices. In Beyonce's show, she even had the members of Destiny's Child join onstage for a number before finishing off with Jay-Z coming out which set everyone going crazy. This was one of the top shows I saw over the last year by far.

April 11, 2004 [Sunday]......New Jersey again
Spent the afternoon at a Nets v Philadelphia 76'ers ball game.

April 10, 2004 [Saturday]......Britney Spears in Concert / Car Show
This afternoon I went over to the New York International Auto Show. It is held in a huge convention centre on the west side at 34th street. They had all the latest models and a fair amount of concept cars. I took a close look at the Hummer in particular.

In the evening, Anh & I went over to Jersey to see Britney Spears in concert. The show was ok but had been plagued with bad reviews and reports of far too much backing tapes and not enough live singing. The sets, lighting and production was big however and it had enough in it to make it worth seeing.

April 8, 2004 [Thursday]......Nets game - part 2
Tonight I was back over in Jersey for another Nets game, this time the Orlando Magic were in town. They were no match for the Nets tonight though.

April 7, 2004 [Wednesday]......Night at the Dive Bar
End of hockey season night tonight was celebrated with a gathering at the Dive Bar on the Upper West Side. This was up at 95th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. It was a good turn out and I spent a couple of hours hanging with some of the people from hockey.

April 6, 2004 [Tuesday]......Nets game
Went over to see a NJ Nets v Milwauke Bucks game tonight.

April 4, 2004 [Sunday]......Whitney Biennial visit
This afternoon I went up to the Whitney Museum of American Art on Madison Avenue in the the Upper East Side. Currently the 2004 Whitney Biennial Exhibition is on display, here is how the website describes it...

Featuring the latest work by emerging and established American artists, the 2004 Biennial Exhibition is the Whitney Museum of American Art’s signature survey of contemporary American art. The seventy-second in the series of Annual and Biennial exhibitions inaugurated in 1932 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the 2004 Biennial will be on view from March through May 2004.

The Biennial site is here.

Overall, this was one of the best modern art displays I have seen here yet, with some especially interesting installations. My favourite had a line of 30 odd people waiting, eventually you got to go into a small room for 20 seconds each, the tiny room was pitch black with a small platform surrounded by water and tiny lights draped everywhere from the ceiling which reflected against the mirrored walls to appear as if the lights went on forever and you could see no end.

March 29, 2004 [Monday]......Madonna Coming to New York
Tickets went onsale today for Madonna's concert tour in June when she plays MSG. We picked up tickets to 2 of the shows so we have to decide whether we see her twice or sell one of the shows on eBay. Anh will probably want to go twice as Madonna is her favourite performer and she has collected the tour programs for all the shows to date, finding most on eBay last year.
Tonight I was over at a NJ Nets v Boston Celtics game.

March 27, 2004 [Saturday]......Times Square Chaos
Tonight we went up to Times Square for the evening. As usual, it was just chaos there with people cramming the sidewalks. We intended to see a movie on 42nd street but the movies are often sold out there so we changed plan and went to dinner first. That was another mistake as we went to Olive Garden where there was a 1 hour wait for a table. Despite that we stayed and eventually ate a huge meal. Later we went back for the midnight session of Jim Carrey's new Eternal Sunshine movie.

Earlier in the day I had my last hockey game up at Central Park. With spring now underway, the warmer temperatures melt the ice in the outdoor rinks, so this weekend was the last before they close until next winter. I'll be back playing hockey in May indoors at the Chelsea Piers Sky Rink.