John Lennon - We Remember...

Exactly two months ago, Kevin and I went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in SoHo to join a whole bunch of other people in celebrating John Lennon's life. It was supposed to be his 69th birthday, if he had not left this world so prematurely. I've been meaning to blog about this for quite a while but never got around to it. Since yesterday was the 29th anniversary of Lennon's death, I figured today would be a good day to do so.

We have always wanted to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex since it opened it's doors in November last year. However, due to the steep ticket price ($26.50 per person and we were not even sure if it was worth it), we just never got around to it. The current special exhibit on display is "John Lennon - The New York City Years". Since it was Lennon's birthday, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex announced that they will be opening up the museum to the public for FREE, in celebration of his life! Since we are huge fans of the Beatles, we decided to go check it out. As you can see from the picture, the line to get in was really long. However, it wasn't that long of a wait and it was kinda fun, to stand in line with other John Lennon fans and just chill.

We are not allowed to take any photos inside the museum, so this is a stock photo that I stole off online. The museum on the whole is really not that big, it reminds me of a pimped up and bigger Hard Rock Cafe. Definitely not worth the $26.50! However, there were quite a few cool exhibits to check out. Among them were Modanna's pointy bra, Michael Jacksons hand written lyrics of Billie Jean, Elvis's bible (complete with little notes and highlights) and a whole of of other clothes, shoes, lyrics and memorabilia from other artist. The John Lennon special exhibit was cool though. I learnt that even though Lennon was originally from Liverpool, he always felt that New York was his home. There were all kinds of cool personal memorabilia from Yoko Ono's personal collection on display. His clothes in a hospital bag, still with the tag on, just like how Yoko got it back from them after his assassination. His famous New York City t shirt. All kinds of handwritten lyrics. His personal piano and guitars. All kinds of stuff from his life here in NYC. There was also a whole section displaying his immigration letters and green card petition (something I can identify with :P) as well as his original green card. I never knew that he took Yoko Ono's last name after they got married. The name listed on the green card was John Winston Ono Lennon. Hmmmm, maybe I should pitch this idea to Kev :P What do you guys think? Kevin Paul Wong Podany? Hahaha!

After visiting the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex, we took the C train up to Strawberry Fields in Central Park. Strawberry Fields was built in honor of Lennon and opened in 1985 on his birthday. The name of the site is taken from the Beatles’s song Strawberry Fields Forever and was also, for Lennon, an evocation of an orphanage in Liverpool by the same name. Lennon had taken many walks with his wife and young son through the friendly confines of Central Park, just a stone throw away from their apartment building. Every year, many Beatles fans from all over the would would flock to Strawberry Fields on his birthday, to just gather and celebrate his life.

Ahhh, here is the famous Imagine mosaic...donated by the city of Naples. This is also the central focus of the Strawberry Fields section of Central Park. Anytime you visit Strawberry Fields, be it in the summer or winter, there will be flowers from fans all over the world. Also, you can be sure to find a few hardcore Beatles fan band around the mosaic on the park benches, playing Beatles songs all day long.

Of course in every famous so called 'tourist attraction', there will be people trying to cash in. There were many stalls, just like this, set up everywhere near Strawberry Fields. There were selling all kinds of John Lennon stuff, from t shirts to posters and photographs.

Here it is. This is where it all ended. Just across the street from Strawberry Fields, is The Dakota (please excuse my crazy hair, it was a windy day :P). On the night of 8 December 1980, at around 10:50 pm, Mark David Chapman shot Lennon in the back four times in the entrance of The Dakota. He was brought to the Roosevelt Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. There was no funeral for Lennon and he was cremated Hartsdale, NY. Some people say Yoko scattered John's ashes in Strawberry Fields, some say she has it still in The Dakota (where she is still currently residing). Nobody knows, I guess it will remain as one of the many secrets of new York. With that, it concludes our day of remembering and celebrating John Lennon's life. RIP Mr Lennon...we remember.

Marlboro's Roadhouse Nights @ SoHo, NYC

This is a very backdated post. Please bear with us. We are trying our best to catch up on all of the that stuff we did a couple of weeks back (since we were on blogging solely on the Marlboro Ranch series and nothing else back then :P). Kevin received an invite from Marlboro sometime last month to their NYC Roadhouse Nights. He called them up to RSVP and was told that his name will be added to the guest list and that he is allowed to bring one guest. For those of you who are not familiar with Marlboro's Roadhouse Nights, it's actually a party sponsored by Marlboro in various locations across America. The NYC Roadhouse Nights was held at the Canal Room in SoHo on Sept 12, 2009. Marlboro would randomly select names off their mailing list and send out invites to the lucky few. I guess Kevin was one of the 'lucky few'! :P

We were pretty excited when we found out that it will be held in the Canal Room. Apart from it being a really popular club with many of the A list celebs (Mariah Carey, Lindsay Lohan, Missy Elliot, Jessica Alba, Wilmer Valderam, Ashton and Demi...just to name a few), it is also one of the the most exclusive venue for live music showcases in NYC. With the most cutting edge, top of the line, sound and lighting systems, the Canal Room is the place to be on a Saturday night!

The friendly Marlboro crew at the check in counter. This is where they checked us in, gave us our voucher stubs and gave a run down of the program for the night. The guest (that's me!) also had a chance to fill up some forms and as a token of appreciation for signing up with Marlboro, I got a free gift! I will show you guys a picture of the gift later on in this post.

This are all the coupons/vouchers that we got. A door gift voucher for the winner as well as the guest, an entry form for the drawing of two $100 Omaha Steak vouchers that will be held later on in the night and alcoholic drinks vouchers (limited to two each). Sodas are free flow all night long and if you want more alcoholic drinks but have used up all your vouchers, there is also a cash bar available.

There are basically three seating areas that you can go to. The main area is in front of the stage, on the dance floor. Marlboro has setup small round high tables and bar stools for you to sit and enjoy your food while listening to the live band.

Since it's a Marlboro event, you can expect the bulk of the crowd to be smokers. However, there is a no smoking in restaurants/clubs/bars ruling in NY. So, they have set up tables outside for people to step out for a smoke or just chill while people watching.

We headed upstairs to the VIP section of the club. On normal days, this section would be blocked off and only special people like celebs or VIPs on the guest list would be allowed to head up here. Since Marlboro booked the whole club for this event, it was a free for all and anybody could come up here to chill. It was really cool, with nice leather U shape couches, plasma TV screens, awesome lightings as well as a great view of the whole club from the top.

Apart from free drinks, we also had free food all night long. I must say that the food was totally delicious! There were pizzas, burgers, pulled pork sandwiches, chicken and steak kebabs, BBQ ribs, wings, all kinds of sides as well as some kick ass corn muffins. There were also cookies, brownies, apple crumble and ice cream for dessert.

Here is a close up of some of the food we had that night. I later went back down to the buffet line to get some wings and WOW! They were just awesomeeee! One of the best BBQ wings I have ever tasted!

They had a few DJs spinning some music while we were eating and in between sets. Good stuff!

There was also a live band that played a good mix of some mellow country and blues. I can't really remember the name of the band, but they were pretty good.

For those who wants to try their hand at some blackjack, there were two tables set up at the back. Of course it's just for fun and no real money was exchanged. You can just walk over and you will be given some chips to play.

Both the winner and the guest were given a gift each at the end of the night. The bigger box is for the winner and the smaller for the guest.

This is what's inside the big box. Three types of BBQ sauce, one Marlboro Country Cookbook (we have four copies of this at home - two from the ranch, one they sent Kevin for his birthday and now this :P) and a red bandanna. The guest box has exactly the same thing, minus the cookbook.

Here is a photo of the free gift that the guest got after filling in the forms. One Zippo lighter (also have four of this at home, two from the ranch, one from some Marlboro giveaway last year and this!) and one coupon for a free pack of Marlboro when you buy one.

We had a great time partying the night away at Malrboro's Roadhouse in NYC! We would like to thank Marlboro for all the good food, drinks and awesome gifts that we got that night. As usual, you guys rock!!