I left NYC 13 years ago, but Astor Place haircutters (very close to Astor Place station on the 6) might still be open. That place was cheap and fast. I know it ain't midtown, where you're at, but it doesn't take too long to get downtown, since you're already on the east side, and all.

Otherwise, this list might come in handy. I dunno.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 7:34 AM on July 21, 2008

Great! This is great!

GuyZero, I just marked yours as a "best answer" for 2 reasons. For one thing, the "commercial" rhyme was exactly what I was thinking of when I made this post: I always found that hilarious! Perfect for the Beastie's "dumb" facade/image. The 2nd reason was the backstory, which I'd never heard.

But really, all answers in a thread like this are "best", as long as they're accurate!
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 11:03 PM on July 20, 2008

That's an interesting comment, SoftRain. Here's something similar that comes to mind, from Public Enemy's Chuck D:

You C.I.A
You see I ain't kidding!
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 12:42 AM on July 21, 2008

I'd suggest that you not be too concerned with "coming across as a jerk". But I don't think you will, particularly, if you simply take each of them aside, as the opportunity arises, and say something along these lines:

"Look, I know this might not strike you as the greatest or most rewarding job in the world, but since you're here I'm assuming that it's because you need the money. Now, unless the work that I assign you to do gets done,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 11:41 PM on July 8, 2008

I have to wonder, though, which one of these statements from your post is more accurate:

"...not much gets done."

or

"...we get a lot done...

???
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 11:44 PM on July 8, 2008

Very helpful so far, folks, many thanks! Some of you have mentioned sleeping cars: can you tell me what those are like, exactly? What does one do with luggage? Is there room in those bunks for a sleeping adult plus a bag or two? Or are we talking little individual cabins here, like, your own little family room? I don't know anything about the setup...
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:51 PM on July 5, 2008

I've just checked out Amtrak's site with little pictures and descriptions of their sleeper cars an cabins. Anyone here have personal experience with these types of seats?
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:58 PM on July 5, 2008

Remember that the journey can be a destination, too :)

Oh, absolutely, pjern, absolutely. That's one of the big reasons we're thinking about trains as opposed to planes. Not to mention that I actually like the kind of grimy, industrial, rusty, backyards-and-rickety-shacks views that I recall from an Amtrak trip I took about 30 years ago.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 7:19 PM on July 5, 2008

Oh, and thanks everyone for these answers. Great!
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 7:19 PM on July 5, 2008

Wow, that sinkhole thing is a total drag, and thanks for mentioning it, tomboko. As far as US trains/Japan trains comparisons, yeah, I'm under no illusions about all that. The Japan system is superlative, trains run on time, what, 98, 99% of the time? They're clean, reliable... not cheap, but, you get what you pay for: the service is uniformly excellent. I knew even before I asked this question that there's really no comparison. Still, it's the USA, the country of my birth and where I spent most... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:42 AM on July 6, 2008

Once more, thanks folks, for all your wonderful answers. This has been really helpful.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 4:00 AM on July 8, 2008

There's a neat Tito Puente cover of "Take 5" that's in 4.

Ha! So he does! It's crazy what he does with the piano vamp!

Blues Traveler has an album called Cover Yourself on which they reinterpret their own songs.

Great idea! You know, Brazil's soaring-voiced songster Milton Nascimento has been "covering" himself for years, with multiple versions of the same songs... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 10:19 PM on June 21, 2008

Wow, Herodios, nice work, man!
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 10:21 PM on June 21, 2008

Hey, this is great, thanks everyone!
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 7:43 AM on June 22, 2008

I guess you could head over to Maxwell Street, though I hear they done gentrified all the life out of it. Still, you might somehow commune with the spirits and ghosts of the blues there.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 7:54 PM on June 18, 2008

Singing corridos, though, would appear to be a high-risk job category! A lot of the folks you want to listen to, jonmc, may well be dead already. Fortunately, recordings, like diamonds, are forever.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:39 PM on June 11, 2008

And hey, jonmc, check out this YouTube clip. After the introduction (a capsule explanation of some drug gang goings-on south of the border) there's a tune (great singer!) about loyalty to the Los Zetas gang, with handy English translation. "...united like family, we are the force with degrees in suicide!"
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:52 PM on June 11, 2008

Forgive me for making a comment here which isn't a direct answer to jonmc's original question, but I just wanted to mention something that's occurred to me at various times in the past: a lot of the Mexican brass band music has much in common with German "oom-pah" brass band music, which I guess always struck me as a little bit odd and unexpected.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 6:28 PM on June 11, 2008

Hey, jon and Houstonian, thanks!
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 7:06 PM on June 11, 2008

I'd second what whoaali said in the first comment upthread. Even though it's very close, putting your fate in the hands of greater NYC-area mass transit is not an especially great idea in this situation. Hotel near the test venue is what I'd recommend as well.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 9:23 PM on June 2, 2008

You've almost certainly gone to this page, but just in case you haven't... this might be of some help.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 4:00 AM on May 30, 2008

misozaki writes: in Japanese, if you're not feeling well and someone asks you a question phrased "negatively," like, "Taicho yokunai no? (Aren't you feeling well?)" in Japanese you'd answer, "Yes (Hai), I'm not feeling well." Whereas in English you'd say, "No, I'm not feeling well."

This has been a point of interest for me too... and of course, once you think about, the Japanese way is the correct way, logically... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:07 AM on May 27, 2008

A wild guess: movie industry people refer to it as a "tag". Again, that's just a wild guess.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:08 AM on May 6, 2008

I suppose many of Dylan's performances during the period that he first "went electric" could be considered soldiering on through difficult conditions. I mean, when you see some of the footage of that first tour with the Band, and hear a sizeable chunk of the audiences screaming at him, making a lot of noise, booing... it can't be easy for a performer to continue the show in circumstances like that.

And remember when Sinéad O'Connor did this? She was already a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 4:12 PM on May 1, 2008

what riot was going to break out on SNL after 9-11??

Lorne Michaels was going to stage a single-person riot out of sheer outrage that a ragtag band of foreigners would dare to upstage his precious television show.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:41 PM on May 1, 2008

I feel very connected to plenty of music that was performed and recorded long before I was born (pre-war blues, early country & western...) as well as a lot of music from my g-g-g-generation (Allman Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone...) and music from more recent years (Portishead, Missy Elliott), so I guess I'm adding my voice to the opinion that love of music, or sense of connection to it, is not necessarily age-related. Probably has more to do with a personal inclination on the part of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 4:33 PM on May 1, 2008

Ann Peebles' I'm So Thankful. Ann is best known for her wonderful "I Can't Stand the Rain".
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 1:40 AM on March 1, 2008

Bring some work-type gloves to use when loading gear in and out of the van: this can help eliminate scraped knuckles and such, which you don't want if you have to play your instrument every night.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 4:25 AM on February 26, 2008

She plays viola, not violin, but she fulfills all other requirements you've listed: my old friend LaDonna Smith.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 4:52 PM on February 15, 2008 marked best answer

Just for spelling accuracy's sake, that's Pachelbel.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:32 PM on February 13, 2008

IANAW, but this list has more than a few. NOTE: NSFW
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:43 AM on January 29, 2008

Uh... guess it'd help to include the link... it's here, and again, NSFW.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:44 AM on January 29, 2008

Well, I first heard it at the tender age of six, but there were two extra "mad"s in that one: My grandma took me to see It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Obviously not the first use, but, hey, they had more "mad"s, and that's gotta count for something!
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 11:47 PM on January 19, 2008

Whoops. Well, that would be the aforementioned Stanley Kramer movie.

I have failed at AskMeFi.

I should just stick to the blue, and the occasional song at MeFiMu.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 11:49 PM on January 19, 2008

Well, the only thing I can come up with right offhand is "the gallows tree", which, among other places, shows up in the folk song "Jim Jones". I know it from Bob Dylan's excellent version. Here's the lyric quote:

Come and listen for a moment, lads,
And hear me tell my tale.
How across the sea from England
I was condemned to sail.
Now the jury found me guilty,
Then says the judge, says he,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 3:00 AM on January 19, 2008

Some others:

the noose
the rope
the gibbet
the scaffold
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 3:22 AM on January 19, 2008

Here's a link for gibbet.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 3:24 AM on January 19, 2008

chuckd, please don't take this as wiseass or snarky, cause I really do mean it as a suggestion for the future, regarding keeping a carpet clean. Adopt a strict habit of taking off your shoes at the door. Use socks and house slippers only in your home. Your floors and carpets will stay so clean that you'll scarcely ever have the problem again! And I guarantee you, in a relatively short time, you'll scratch your head in wonderment as to why you ever wore outside shoes (stepping... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:32 PM on January 15, 2008

For strikingly different quilts that may inspire you to new aesthetic heights of quilting, there's the The Quilters of Gee's Bend.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 7:22 PM on January 12, 2008

All manner of musical events, from DJ nights to live music of all sorts happens at one of my favorite spots in Tokyo, Super Deluxe. And there's a great mix of Japanese and foreigners there: even though it's in Roppongi, you don't get creepy Roppongi-esque gaijin looking to down lots of shots and pick up exotic locals... The vibe at Super Deluxe is great.

I play there a lot, too: it's one of the best places in town to play, far as I'm concerned. I'll be there tomorrow... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 4:25 AM on November 5, 2007

did she leave her keys?

filmgeek: Sorry, that's some key (no pun intended) info I left out, but no, she didn't leave her keys. They were also pro enough to get into and start her car WITHOUT her keys. And when she found her car, it was locked! They had politely locked the door behind them when they returned it!

game warden: I reckon it'd be impossible to find out about other crimes committed in the area within that time window.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 6:05 AM on October 2, 2007

Are you sure it's the same van?

Definitely the same van. Full of her children's stuff (she's a mother of 2, one is a baby), etc.

Why are "Japanese police are infamously inept"? I didn't know that. What makes this so?

I'm sorry, letahl, but it's too big a subject to get into here, and too unrelated, essentially, to the question at hand, and it's also my bedtime!... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 6:55 AM on October 2, 2007

Hi folks! Original poster flapjax here. This is amazing, all these answers, suggestions, theories! There've been some questions directed at me, so let me take a stab at some of 'em:

These Premises: Apparently nothing was moved around in the back (or anywhere) in the mini-van.

Steve in Maine: Nope, I didn't see any of this first-hand. All information I've given is second-hand, coming from my friend. And actually, technically speaking, third-hand,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 9:56 PM on October 2, 2007

Good points , ikkyu2. I'll ask about this key stuff.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 3:26 PM on October 3, 2007

Okay, ikkyu2, let me clarify one point: my friend, who lives in Tokyo, was not staying at the hotel. She was having dinner at the hotel restaurant, then doing a little shopping with her family. And her set is the ONLY set of keys to the car, she tells me.

And taz, the make and model of the car: We misinterpreted the "late model" part of this scenario: her car was bought recently (which was where the confusion lay) but it was a used... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 12:22 AM on October 6, 2007

Great answers so far, folks! Many thanks! And for those of you with the time and inclination, extra comments about why the cover is so different or noteworthy (like in ob's comment above) will be very welcome indeed. Let your inner music critic come out!
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 7:09 AM on September 24, 2007

Damn! This has been an avalanche of answers! Many thanks to all!
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 3:39 PM on September 24, 2007

Oh, and thanks to wsg for his clarification on the Sting version of Little Wing. Saved me the unpleasantness of having to listen to Sting!
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 3:47 PM on September 24, 2007

Yeah, I'd noticed that, caddis. Somehow I'm not surprised this post didn't get a via, though...

And thanks once again to all you hiveminders out there!
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 7:19 AM on September 29, 2007

Klezmer clarinetist Mickey Katz played with a fantastic percussionist.

I'm not really up on my Klezmer, but apparently there's a long tradition of xylophone playing in that genre. And folks like this fellow seem to be keeping the tradition alive.
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite at 9:25 PM on August 18, 2007