SDE in the USA 2024 – Day One
Life in the Big Apple
I’m back in the USA for the first time since 2018 to see Duran Duran play Madison Square Garden and Tears For Fears play in Vegas!
As usual, with any trip to New York from the UK, it pays to get an early flight since the time difference gives you back most of the day if you get going promptly.
8.55 via Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow didn’t sound particularly early when I booked it, but of course by the time you’ve got there two hours before the flight and then built in travel time to Heathrow it is an early start – 5am to be precise! Ugh.
Heathrow was heaving, but thankfully everything was on schedule and we were on our way (Mrs Sinclair is accompanying me on this trip!). I always choose to fly Virgin for long haul to America. I did it way back in 1989 for my first trip to the USA and continue to do so today. They’re good. Decent selection of films and audio on the in-flight entertainment, including a some of classic albums, such as The Who’s Who’s Next (not in Dolby Atmos!) My only complaint – and this isn’t confined to Virgin – is why airlines still give you those crappy 1984-style Sony Walkman headphones to plug in, when most people are likely to have much better headphones or AirPods, or whatever, that could connect with bluetooth. Less wires, less hassle and better sound quality. I guess bluetooth might interfere with the plane’s electronic systems.
I say ‘only’ complaint. The onboard Wi-Fi, which I made the mistake of paying £20.99 for the whole flight was a total joke. For over 6 hours it offered the tantalising prospect of doing something as labour intensive as opening an email without actually delivering. Despite staff rebooting ’the system’ a few times it never improved. I understand that in flight wi-fi is, by its very nature, going to be a bit unreliable but they really do overpromise and underdeliver when it comes to getting online.
We landed at JFK around noon local time which was pleasingly well ahead of schedule and there were no queues for passport control (I’ve had some terrible waits there in the past). So far so good!
It’s always a bit of a trek from JFK to Manhattan via classic yellow New York taxi – plan for at least 45 mins – but the system is efficient and well staffed outside the airport, and they have a ‘flat fee’ fair system, so there is no stressing about being ripped off. It’s gone up a bit, mind! Last time I was here (2017, I think) It was around $50 but is now approximately $85. Despite sitting in many cabs from JFK to NYC over the years I can never make head nor tail of ‘the route’. It’s a spaghetti junction of interstates, intersections, bridges, tunnels. I noted loads of construction going on, especially in the early phase of the journey near Flushing Meadows (where the US Open Tennis tournament is held in September).
We’re staying right in the heart of the city, near Times Square, which is only because we’re only here for two days and it’s near everything. Hotel/area of choice for me is normally Washington Square Park Hotel in ‘the village’. Much more chilled out and bohemian and I like the rock ’n’ roll history! Maybe next time!
After checking into our hotel, it was time to go an do some exploring. It’s unseasonable hot in New York right now, which I wasn’t expecting for late October. In fact, for Halloween itself they are talking about 79 degrees, which is crazy. So much for lugging my heavy leather jacket with fur-lined collar across the Atlantic, that’s staying in the suitcase. It really is shorts and T-shirt weather!
After a half-hour decompress, went for a wander and came across the first record shop of the trip! I say record shop, it’s actually a place called Book Off which specialises in second hand games, manga books, DVDs and blu-rays but also happens to have quite an extensive CD section in the basement and a very good selection of Japanese vinyl (which are all $29, which I thought was a reasonable price). The CD section is massive but there’s not too much in the way of rarities, just loads of 80s and 90s CD albums. It’s takes some looking through and arguably they are a bit overpriced at $5-7 for a disc, but there is a discount CD section as well where you can find discs for $1.50 a pop. I spotted certain titles that I’d seen in the ‘main’ section also in the cheap section so it’s worth having a good look. There’s also a CD box set section which wasn’t bad and I immediately saw something that I knew I wanted. It was the US version of Elton John’s To Be Continued box set from the early 1990s, which not only has a totally different design to the UK/European box but it’s large format too. The track listing is identical but it’s a really good box and looking at the discs, you could tell they’ve never been played. It had that ‘as new’ vibe, despite being over 30 years old. Best of all it was well priced, I thought, at $39. Bought!
I also picked up the US CD single of Madonna’s ‘I’ll Remember’ ($9), which I’d actually never seen before. From memory I thought it had some remixes not on the UK equivalent, but I’ll have to check. Not everything was cheap; in the Depeche Mode section there was a few CD singles which looked like they’d be pulled from those box sets and they wanted $48 a pop. That’s well over the top.
So far as vinyl went, I saw the Japanese-only Duran Duran compilation Tiger! Tiger! (With OBI) which I don’t own, and it seemed an appropriate enough purchase, given that I’m going to see the band at Madison Square Garden tomorrow. I also couldn’t resist a Japanese pressing of my favourite ABBA album, The Visitors.
After further wandering we next came upon a Barnes and Noble, the mammoth US bookseller that is somehow still going (think Borders if you are in the UK). They do exclusive vinyl editions and so always worth popping in. They had a copy of Tears For Fears’ new album Songs For A Nervous Planet on exclusive blue vinyl, although only the one, so no extra copies for friends in the UK – sorry! They had a ton of ‘old’ exclusives, some looking a bit tatty and in a $10 sale, so you have to wonder, to a degree, how in demand these rarities are.
Retail giant Target was going to be the best bet for vinyl and CD exclusives and the plan was to make sure I get to one during our 48 hour stop in NY. I know they’ve definitely got exclusives of the new Tears For Fears.
We carried on walking up fifth avenue and came across Trump Tower, which was a reminder that it’s the US election in a couple of days. Network TV channels and the billboards in Times Square are full of campaigning ads. In fact, David Gilmour is playing Madison Square Garden on the day of the election and then again on the days after. That’s going to be a bit weird.
I’ve been an Android user for quite a few years phone-wise, having previously owned iPhones. My teenage daughter pointed out that it was “stupid” me being so plugged into the Apple eco system (with MacBook Pros, iMacs, Apple TV, Apple Music and being a Final Cut Pro user) and not having an iPhone. Point well made, so the end destination was Apple’s spectacular ‘glass box’ store at the top end of fifth avenue where I would go over the the dark side and get a new iPhone. Job done. Some NY retail therapy never hurt anyone.
By now it was about 7pm local time, so 11pm or ‘bedtime’ in the UK. We’d been up for 18 hours. However it’s a rookie error to go to bed too early in New York on the day of arrival, however tired you may feel. You have to stay up and see out the day, to try and get your body clock settled.
After a day of snacking and airline food, it was nice to sit down to a proper meal (me: steak, Mrs S: salmon) and the balmy weather allowed us to have a late drink on a rooftop bar.
We are very pleased to be here and looking forward to the ‘main event’ tomorrow, since I’m a Madison Square Garden ‘virgin’ (how nice to have a big arena right in the centre of the city). However, there’s that Target to find and I’m planning to go to Academy Records on 18th street and pop by Record Runner in the village and say hello to proprietor John Pita. I’ve also got a catch up with a friend who works for Sony in NY first thing and we’re meeting another friend for pre-Duran Duran drinks. Day 2 of the USA trip is coming soon!!
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Interesting read, @pauls. It’s been quite a few years since I was last in New York.
You mentioned about bluetooth and the crappy headphones given out on some flights. Not all airlines are the same. We flew on Emirates recently which has upgraded headsets for all passengers. Those in economy get decent over-ear ones (not noise cancelling, but comfortable and listenable).
But like you I wanted to use my own bluetooth headphones instead. There’s no issue taking a bluetooth transmitter onboard and plugging it in. I bought one of these based on recommendations and very good it was too, but there are plenty that do the same thing – this one can broadcast to 2 headphones at once, though you might be hard pushed to both watch the same screen when sat on a flight!
I’m curious what you (and other flying SDE readers) use to store vinyl when on the move. I’ve got a trip to Japan coming up next year and, whilst my focus will be mainly on Blu-Ray/SACDs, I’d welcome any recommendations on protecting vinyl whilst travelling. I use a backpack so don’t have the same protection that a suitcase user would have.
Am loving the blog. Takes me back to the days of traveling to NYC for gigs. Flew with American Airlines on Friday last. Bang & Olufsen are their headphone of choice. Really good option. Would love to use Virgin but living in the desert of the US makes it nigh on impossible. Very much looking forward to reading more of your adventures!
Cheers Adrian!
That Elton John box set is a really nice find and actually does have a slightly different track-listing than the UK version; disc 4 on the US version has You’ve Gotta Love Someone and I Swear I Heard The Night Talking whereas the UK box had Understanding Women and Suit Of Wolves.
I was a very regular customer at my nearest Book-Off when I lived in Southern California. In fact, I pretty much paid for my move out to Florida by selling items there. The trick was always to not spend more than I made, but got pretty good at it. It was also wonderful for getting kid’s books for my son early on as they tend to be in very good condition. Glad you had some luck at it!
I’ll Remember by Madonna is one of her best singles. I saw it on a music channel last year, having forgotten all about it, and got a copy from Ebay. Such a great production.
Paul I hope you are enjoying your trip here to the US! Good stuff in NYC and Vegas especially seeing Tears for Fears. I hope you leave on or before Election Day here! :)
Sad to hear of the musical titan Quincy Jones passing. A wonderful producer , arranger and a great musician in his own right. A life well lived. RIP.
I read his book earlier this year and what an amazing man who had it very hard in his early life and did wonders in the World of music later on a true inspiration.
Paul, neither the Target-exclusive TfF vinyl or CD are in-stock at the Target that’s right on the Strip (next to the Hard Rock Cafe), but the Target website will tell you the quantities in stock at the nearest stores, so you can plan more effectively. Good luck!
No Vegas store had TFF vinyl. Grr. Just ended up getting the CD…
Have a great stay in our country and in my hometown of NYC! Get ready to get inundated with political ads if you get to Vegas before Tuesday. Nevada is one of the 7 states that will decide our election. I know it sounds absurd, 7 states out of 50 and does not even include NY or CA, the biggest states. Ah the joys of being an American. Go Kamala!
Anyway, Academy Records is great. The location near 5th Avenue is better for CD’s and films. The East Village location is better for vinyl. When in Vegas, check out Zia Records. It is a chain, like the old Tower Records, with locations primarily in Nevada and Arizona, but they have an enormous and diverse collection of used vinyl. Happy crate hunting!
Nice log! I’ll chime in with the other comment on travel to/from the airport. LaGuardia Airport is the easiest and quickest (and newly remodeled). If you take a free bus one stop, you are at a subway station with easy connection to anywhere. $2.90, no tip!
Cool blog / post. A good read. Have fun.
“8.55 via Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow didn’t sound particularly early when I booked it, but of course by the time you’ve got there two hours before the flight and then built in travel time to Heathrow it is an early start – 5pm to be precise!”
You meant to say 5 am, didn’t you?
Yes
Enjoy NYC. One priceless tip for next time, to help you save most of the $85 cab fare and spend it on music instead. In JFK, take the free Skytrain to Jamaica station – it’s the last stop. The skytrain is free around the terminals, but as it leaves JFK at the end you’ll pay $4 upon disembarking. At Jamaica station take the E subway to 42 Street, it’s a single ride and costs $2.90 plus the refillable metro card you’ll need to buy for another $1. Takes about 40 minutes and you’re at Times Square at a fraction of the cost.
Correction…it’s not $4 to take the AirTrain from JFK to Jamaica Station, it’s more like 7 or 8 bucks now…and then you can take either the E subway…$2.75 a single ride or the LIRR to either Penn Station/Moynihan Train Hall (rebuilt & looking stunningly nice) or the historic Grand Central Terminal, the two train systems (LIRR & Metro North) are now connected in the same place which is quite convenient now…a drop more, maybe 5 bucks…still both choices better than an $85 cab ride, but with your luggage, that & not having to lug it around, sometimes a cab is worth the cost for the convenience of door to door service…sorry I missed you and Ray but my stupid phone had a nasty fall causing internal damage & could not text (got a new much better phone on Friday, a Samsung Galaxy A15 with double the storage of 128GB & many cool features)…luckily my ticket for DD was intact but just barely as I could not make the screen brighter for the entry scanner to read the ticket “laser beam”, but it worked…also had lots of expenses last week, so I could not afford any merch…but great show regardless…and happy you took my word on Book Off…the prior store on 41st Street was better with a lot more Japanese CDs with OBI strips…bought lots of Puffy (AmiYumi) CDs & more then, like Kylie Japanese CD versions with unique packaging…for cheap, like $3 a pop I remember…when they closed, I was bumming, thought they were gone forever, then I came upon the new location on 45th Street by sheer accident & was overjoyed…all the Targets in Manhattan, like on 34th Street, don’t have music departments, so I avoid them there…I just go to ones near me on Long Island…and next time you are back these parts, there ARE a few stores you should not miss…Looney Tunes in West Babylon (best indie store on LI by far & I turned them onto SDE not too long ago), Newbury Comics (a Boston-based chain that expanded out of New England & they have cool vinyl exclusives & sales/discounts) & Mr Cheapo’s (2 locations in Mineola & Commack) where you may come up with some gems at the right time…once I got that big Clash boxset “Sound System” for $95 and it had a cool error…instead off “Armagideon Time” there is a 9 minute “2 tracks together as 1 track” of “Bank Robber” & its dub version “Rockers Galore On A UK Tour” PLUS the 2 tracks separate!! So no “Armagideon Time” here, BUT I have it on the “Clash on Broadway” 3CD set…I once got the 6CD Fleetwood Mac “Blue Horizon” US box & I nabbed the DVD version of Neil’s “Archives 1” box in almosst pristine shape…so great stores…I may rebuy that Elton box “…To Be Continued” for cheap, didn’t think I would, as I have that 3CD “Diamonds” set & 8CD “Jewel Box”, but I just might…I see it around for cheap & you made me reconsider….speaking of reconsidering, I pre-ordered that Who BluRay & I might re-look at the Who/Pete/Roger catalogue…sometimes I get a bit adversarial to go againsst popular opinion…still don’t like “Baba O’Riley” though…perhaps that might change too…US rock radio ruined them for me for years & perhaps with space & a clear head, I can look at this album & their stuff with a fresh new attitude & perspective…enjoy Vegas & TFF!!
Thanks Larry. We got the AirTrain back to JFK actually for the Vegas flight, so not ever going to do Taxi again. You’re right it’s $8.50. Sorry to have missed you at Duran Duran.
Maybe Gilmour will have a ticker or something at the bottom of the big screens to see who’s winning. However, I suspect it will be at least a couple of weeks before everything is finalized.
In any case, if you know that you are going to a concert on election day, you’ll be voting early that day, in advanced polls or by mail – if you are voting.
Should be “fun” flying back to the UK with all the goodies. UK customs will definitely have fun.
So you’re not tempted to run the New York marathon tomorrow then Paul ;)
Marathon was on last time I was in NYC, so it must have been Nov when I went. Probably 2019…
Wow great journey!!! Two favourite bands in the States. Wish to have done the same. I’ll listen to the two SDE’s here in The Netherlands. Both DD and TFF blurays sound amazing. Just listened to the latest great Cure release, but the production of the bluray is a disaster! Have a safe journey back!
I was going to buy The Cure’s latest album on CD/Blu-ray. What is wrong with the Blu-ray?
There’s nothing technically ‘wrong’ with the blu-ray. I think he’s saying he doesn’t like the Atmos Mix…
Thanks Paul, that’s what I meant.
The production of the atmos mix was very disappointing. Missed opportunity as the music is much layered. The rear surroundspeakers don’t get enough volume. It’s simply not balanced.
The stereo mix on the blu is fine can’t vouch for the Atmos as don’t have that setup.
Business must be very good Paul. Good for you. On another note, when my sister and her husband lived in Brooklyn (they ran an Irish bar in Manhattan called The Dead Rabbit) before moving to Charleston NC to open another bar there, I loved looking round the shops there, and had more than a few Target exclusives ferried home on her regular trips back to the emerald isle. I guess saying you got an album or bluray all the way from North Carolina has a certain ring to it though. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be returning to NYC again. I’m sixty now, and my wife had enough of it when we went for a pre-christmas visit just before Covid hit. For anyone who has seen ice-skating at the Rockerfeller Centre in movies and TV shows, with a handful of people skating majestically around an otherwise empty rink, forget it. There are literally tens of thousands of people in and around the rink all the time. And for my wife, that was the wrong type of breath taking.
Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Book Off is a Japanese store hence all the Japanese vinyl. They’re all over Japan if you ever get the chance to go. Which you really should.
Glad to hear you and Mrs Sinclair had a safe journey, hope you enjoy yourselves over there.
Great day one, you had a lot to pack in!
Bet that sticker leaves a mark on the Madonna cd single.
I was thinking the same thing. I hate it when stores do stupid things like that.
It wont. Paul like most collectors will know the correct way to remove stickers.
Can depend on the quality of the varnish from the original print, especially if this is of an original age from the release. I have had brand new vinyl/CD where simply touching the sticker “popped” off a neat little square of varnish… that’ s annoying as all get-out.
I’ve bought many things at Book-Off (CDs, Blu-rays, books) and have never had an issue with sticker residue.
If you can, you must get to The Record Runner in Greewich Village. I have been going there since I was in high school in the 80’s! It’s one of the few record shops still in the city and always worth the trip from PA.
The US and UK versions of the Elton Johns sets are not quite the same. Three or four songs unique to each. I’ll pull the boxes out and let you know what they are if anyone is interested.
Yes, I would be interested!
Paul, I was in Academy in September, its is small but there is a really great jazz cd inventory . FYI…when I was there if you pay cash you get a 10% discount, Ronan
Wow that Tiger Tiger record is a great find. I bought it in my teens as an import in the Netherlands and still have it in my record collection. I now also own it on cd which is expanded to a 2xcd. Well done!
What’s on the expanded edition?
I’m guessing Kauwgompie means the 2CD compilation “Nite Romantics-Carnival-Tiger Tiger-Strange Behavior”? See it on Discogs.com at https://www.discogs.com/master/1731737-Duran-Duran-Nite-RomanticsCarnivalTiger-TigerStrange-Behavior
Ah, that makes sense. I’m glad I never picked that one up, as the singles box is superior.
Welcome to NYC, Paul. Glad you found Book Off. I’ve found a few good buys on the CD shelves, plus they have a good collection of Criterion Collection DVDs (new and used).
Seems like you didn’t make it to the Rough Trade store in Radio City Music Hall (entrance on Sixth Avenue), at least not yet. A small store, but it has a good collection of vinyl, as well as a hefty selection of 33 1/3 series books (great for reading while traveling). I must have two dozen of them. The last 33 1/3 books that I bought at Rough Trade were Sandinista! and Songs in the Key of Life.
Hi Paul
Sounds a fantastic little jaunt so far. I guessed you were flying Virgin from the purple lighting on your Instagram picture. Me & Mrs Burt always fly Virgin when we go to America, it’s the best airline!!!
I love just browsing in music shops like you did / do. It’s a great holiday pleasure, finding stuff you don’t know you’re looking for, blowing the budget out the water. Shit happens…
Loved the picture of that Record Runner shop. That Fella has great taste, Duran Duran & Suede from the bunff on display!! Fantastic to see that DD sold out MSG on that one off show! Who else would even do a show like that? I can’t imagine! It’s all on you tube now anyway.
Anyway, enjoy the rest of your trip & please keep posting picture / blogs!!! Very interesting.
I would’ve bought the red woman’s face DD MSG T shirt!!
I find Manhattan quite stressful–used to live there–and lacking in good record shopping. If you get a chance, get out to Princeton Record Exchange which is the best in the Tri-State area imo. Also interesting is Newbury Comics (various locations outside Manhattan) which have exclusive vinyl editions.