http://www.citywinery.com/hudsonbbq
City Winery – 155 Varick St. – TriBeCa

We went to this Backyard After Work Party not knowing what to expect.  Behind City Winery? I had in my mind a nice garden atmosphere with wine.  It surely was not that!  It was a makeshift stage on the loading dock in the rear.  It was macadam and not too pretty.  But, they had a good selection of beer (bottles) and only two wines.  There was a food truck serving veggie burgers, burgers, pulled pork sandwiches and salads.  We did not try it, but may another time. What we did like was the first act.

Her name was Emily Wells and she had that quirky 80’s sound that only someone who did not live through the 80’s could have.  It was super fun.  She wore yellow Wayfarers, sat on a drum while playing it and the keyboard.  She did some funky recorded playbacks and sang over it.  We’d see her again.  She apparently just moved to NYC.

Emily Wells

Next up was Mike Daughty.  He was so Billy Bragg it was ridiculous.  It sounded good at first, but began to drone on after a bit.  He was accompanied by a cellist, which was interesting.  They definitely were a bit older and more established than the first act.  In fact, likely he was inspired by Billy Bragg back in the day.  I was most impressed with how his guitar popped against the painting on the back wall of City Winery’s loading dock!

Mike Daughty

Mirror View

Only in New York…

Well, they said after work! I was the least granola person there.