Email me at: info@drdot.com and write “Amanda/NYC” in the subject line to reach me faster
Hi, my name is Amanda. I currently live in NYC, and love it! Massage, music, ceramics, photo, and rhythmicity, have led to where I am today. Music is my life, it has been a lifelong passion that has given me strength, wisdom, and balance. My current passion is massage, I love helping people release energy, relax, and let their mind and body be uplifted. I tailor each massage towards your individual needs by using multiple modalities. These include:
-Circulatory Swedish
-Deep Tissue
-Trigger Point Therapy
-Reflexology
-Lomi Lomi
-Table Thai
-Hand, Foot, and Scalp
Combined they improve blood flow throughout the body, release tight muscles, reduce swelling, provide physical and emotional support, and relieve tension and release toxins through the deep muscle layers. I am a professional and compassionate healer who offers an intuitive, deeply healing massage. Next time you need a massage in the NYC area, call Doctor Dot and book an appointment with Amanda.
So, Paul Booth spent another two hours on my Jimi Hendrix tattoo and did his afro last night, but we are still not done. Last time I was there he spent 6 hours on the outline and face, so that's
The Pogues are legendary. They played last night in NYC and it was AMAZING. I never saw them with Shane as the singer before, when I saw them in 1991, Joe Strummer was on vocals (this was when the band and Shane weren't getting along). So it was SUPER special for me to see the original line up in full force. It was everything I exptected. Band is tight, Shane is fun and very entertaining and his voice, omfg, so sexy, I swear every female in the place must have had goose bumps the whole time. Highlight for me was when they played “Dirty old town”. If they are heading your way, PLEASE don't miss the show, they are the BOMB.
Dr. Russ with Progressive Healthcare and Comprehensive Health Associates, was the first doctor in the state of N.J. and the second in the entire nation to acquire the DRX9000 system to treat low back pain. Because of having successfully treated thousands of low back patients, he was chosen to be one of the first doctors in the United States to acquire the DRX9000C Cervical Decompression Device to treat chronic neck pain. Progressive Healthcare and Comprehensive Health Associates also offer the latest techniques in physical therapy to treat a variety of sports and orthopedic conditions including utilizing the latest in cold laser technology and advanced physical therapy procedures.
Dr. Russ is certified as a training doctor in decompression technology for the Northeast United States and has trained numerous medical specialists including Orthopedic Surgeons, internists, rheumologists, chiropractors and other healthcare specialists.
Dr. Russ has been involved with the DRX9000 since its inception and is one of the doctors with the most extensive clinical experience in the United States.
Dr. Russ was chosen to receive the first FDA cleared cervical decompression system, the DRX 9000C, from among over 100 doctors across the United States because of his commitment to clinical excellence and cutting-edge technology.
Dr. Russ was the clinical director of First Choice Rehabilitation Center of Virginia for five years where he directed a multidisciplinary staff of Chiropractors, Medical Physicians, Massage Therapists and Physical Therapists. He was also the treating chiropractic physician for Gold’s Gym in Arlington, Virginia.
He specializes in the control of neck, back, headaches, stress management, sports-related injuries and axial decompression therapy for disc herniations. Email Dr. Russ at info@drdot.com for an adjustment anytime (put NJ/Dr. Russ in subject line)
Last night at around 10 minutes past midnight (it had just turned Dec 8th), I drove to 72nd street, corner of Central Park west to the Dakota building. There was NO ONE around, not even a guard. I sat in my car blasting Hide your love away, feeling eeire- thinking this is the same spot John Lennon was shot in 1980. Imagining that horrible scene gives you a nasty chill, especially when you are at the scene of the crime. Then an overwhelming feeling of sadness comes over you. Hard to describe, you just have to visit the place to FEEL what I mean.
Every year on Dec 8th Beatles fans gather in Strawberry Fields to sing Beatles and John Lennon songs. I got there around 7 pm at night, it was naturally dark and FREEZING BEYOND belief (20 degrees fahrenheit/-1 celcius) AND it was windy as FOOK.
The bitter weather didn't stop the vigil. Every one sings along to the 5 or 6 guitarist who were in the middle of the circle they formed around the Imagine mosaic. I went alone, didn't know anyone there- and just sang along with everyone, as you do. It felt SO NICE to be around other Beatle fans. SO FUCKING AWESOME.
It was extremely difficult to get a picture or get anywhere close to the middle.. so many swarmed around it.. I had to stand on tippie-toes and take these pictures (not a place to get even slightly pushy so you just wait and try)
Not sure how long the guitarists were all there, but I could only take an hour of the brutal cold. My toes were frozen solid and I had a hard time walking back to my car as my toes would not bend anymore; I looked like marching soldier the way I was walking, lol, trying to avoid bending icy toes out of fear they would have snapped in two lol. Only hardcore Beatles freaks were there, you could tell. Everyone knew every word to every song and people were even making the electric guitar notes in 'Something'
When I left they were in the middle of 'Let it be'. No sign of Yoko this year. She did come out to the vigil in 2005 though.
After the vigil I went to an amazing wine bar and met some wonderful new friends. You just never know who you will meet in this city. Then I met up with Jonesy and we went and did some karaoke. I sang "Helter Skelter" as my Beatles tune for the night. I wore a Beatles shirt too to show love. John Lennon; gone but never, ever forgotten. Mark David Chapman – may you rot in hell.
So after a lovely Spanksgiving Thursday, I dropped Jasmine off home and headed to BB Kings (42nd street) to the Jimi Hendrix 66th Birthday Bash to see my friend Lance Lopez do his thang. I get invited to so many shows to see friends play and hardly ever have time to go see them, but this time I went ( I am a HUGE Hendrix fan). First to go on stage was Jimi's REAL brother, Leon (same mom and dad). Sadly I missed his set due to typical NYC traffic hell.
BUT I still got to hang out with Leon, who is very friendly and charming. I heard from the others he has only started playing guitar 5 years ago; perhaps that's why he went on first? I told him straight up "I would have been one of those ladies that fucked the hell out of your brother given the chance. His music turns me ON". I have to admit, the thought of procreating with Hendrix DNA did cross my mind, for a sec. Heh heh.
The Staff at the BB King are so friendly to me, I get VIP treatment when I show up and I don't even ask for it, but I'm like, "ok".. why not? I did insist on paying though ($50) to see the show, hey, musicians bust their BALLS doing what they do, and if I really want to see a band, I pay. I know how it feels, having my own band in Berlin (Bitchfest) when 200 people show up and half are on the guest list and you earn FUCK ALL after all the rehearsal room costs, flyers, PR etc..
Anyhow, I got a great seat and watched Lance in awe. I just about got off listening to him play Hendrix tunes, PERFECTLY. It was like Jimi came down and channeled himself through him. The voice, the guitar lics, omfg, I wanted to get up and dance my ass off, but everyone was seated and so head bobbing and though slapping was the norm. Lance got a standing ovation after EVERY SONG!!
The guy who came on after Lance, Frank Marino MUST have received the headlining slot out of habit, as he was sloppy (some said it's because he is in his mid 60's, but that never stops BB King when he plays) and at times it really sounded to me like the band skipped crucial beats which made it sound to me like a record skipping. He did an amazing job at the star spangled banner though, I must admit. BUT watching Lance Lopez play first and THEN having to endure Frank after was just like having an outrageously perfect shag and THEN having a lonesome wank after. No comparison. Not exaggerating here folks, Lance nailed it. PLUS, Lance only needed THREE in his band, as in, him plus two, just like Jimi, to do it right. Frank needed an extra guitar player. Yawn.
It was Heaven for Hendrix fans. sigh, purrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It has inspired me to hurry up and get that Hendrix tattoo I have been putting off for so long. I asked Jasmine to draw me a Hendrix head which I will have tatttooed on me, not sure where yet. Leon said he "REALLY wants to see it, in the flesh", once it's done 🙂
Do to the hurried blur called 'my life lately', I forgot my camera in the car and had to make due with my Crackberry camera. Hence the crappy quality pictures. sigh.
Lance just sent me a text message with his set list he played at BB Kings last night:
1. Midnight. 2. Hear my train .3. Gypsy eyes .4. One rainy wish .5. Izabella .6. Them changes .7. Voodoo Chile slight return
So I am all out of watch with the blogs, I still need to do the Italy blog from last spring, the Flogging Molly, Ac/dc and Project Object blog as well as the FLA trip/Zappaween blog. OMFG. I am living in Blog shame. Stay tuned.
Please meet my new massage assistant (Dot Bot) Kimberly. She came to my house, massaged me and completely won me over. She is no stranger to working on musicians and artists and has an such amazing touch. Please let me know if you want to have her work on you..
Reed more about her below
x
Dr. Dot
"Hi! I’m Kim! Born and raised in New York City, I have been a professional massage therapist for the past 4 years.
I started my massage career out in Los Angeles after leaving the daily grind of a major record label. My love for music led me to combining my talents (and loves), music and massage. I started out massaging professional athletes at a high end spa. Then, two years ago I went out with The Bravery doing merch and massage. It was the perfect opportunity to combine my loves.
Now based in the NY/NJ area, I specialize in Deep Tissue and sports massage. All my massages include a combination of stretches, Swedish strokes, Shiatsu, and deep muscle work to provide my clients with the optimal experience. I have been trained in:
• Deep Tissue • Sports Massage • Shiatsu • Reflexology • Pregnancy Massage • Acupressure • Trigger Point
I look forward to working with you and your bands. And of course, I tour!
No, I am not a Foreigner in NYC, I mean the Rock Group FOREIGNER played in NYC last night at Gotham Hall..well, it wasn't open to the public, it was a private show and luckily for me the band invited me and my girlfriend Brooke to come and watch. The night BEFORE was also AMAZING. I don't even know where to start anymore, I have so much to write I am feeling rather swamped. I still haven't even finished my France, Rome and Florence blog yet! YIKES!!!!!! Freaking out here!!
Let me jump back to this past December to my first Foreigner blog (click HERE to read it) so you can get a feel of how much this band has been growing on me. Some of my friends wind me up telling me "enough with the FOREIGNER already!!!". ha ha. But I surely don't have to remind anyone that good old fashioned rock and roll bands are far and few in between and this band is not only amazing in concert, they are also fun as FUCK to hang out with; even the managers and crew are a blast to be around. Sigh. I have had NO sleep at all since Monday; since Foreigner rolled into town. Ha ha.
My pal Tom Gimbel , rythm guitarist, sax player and backing vocals had some free time, as did the drummer, Brian Tichy and their tour manager assistant Eric so we all went to Arlene's Groceries for some LIVE karaoke. It was so surreal, I am still smirking about it right now as I type. I signed up to sing Back in Black and Brian stepped in and took to the drums (you see, this is live karaoke, as in you don't sing to a tiny TV, you actually sing lead vocals with a KICK ASS band. They have this every Monday night at Arlene's ).
The guitarist ^ of the karaoke band is out of this world good. He's from Northern Ireland and has a very charming accent by the way (not that it matters, I'm just sayin')
I was kinda nervous about having a stand in drummer, I mean, did he even KNOW Back in Black? There were no rehearsals or anything but what the hell, he seemed overly confident, so we went for it. HOLY FUCKING SHIT can this guy play drums. Sigh. It sounded like we had all jammed together for years. He beats the shit out of the drums and the MC even said "that is the loudest fucking drummer I have ever heard in my life" heh heh. It was PERFECT.
Then Tom came on stage, took the mic (audience was now aware of the fact the Foreigner was in the HOUSE) and Tom sang "Hot Blooded" with Brian on drums again. The crowd was creaming their jeans. It was fantastic. I have videos of all this, and will post them ASAP. Again, I am swamped as FUCK. The house drummer was "not amused" at Brian playing two songs, but things got even worse after Brian chugged a few drinks and got antsy, like musicians do (the want to be on stage playing, NOT watching) so Brian went on stage again (without an invite ha ha) with some Mexican dude he made friends with and the dude sang "living on a prayer" by Bon Jovi and Brian, once again, tore it UP! He was PERFECT. I was swooning over his ability to just jump in on any song and NAIL IT. Improv at it's BEST!
Tour manager/assistant Eric acts as baby sitter/buddy while out with the band ^
;
Tom and Brooke ^
The band were all impressed that Brooke is an Opera singer. She is also a karaoke DJ on the side. When she sings rock and roll, it's like butter. The girl has amazing PIPES! (her "lungs" are pretty impressive too 😉
Mick ^ founder of the band, is really polite, friendly, calm…great guy!
Tom told us we had to dress REALLY nice as it was a Black Tie affair. He saw us and said "oh Lord! Lay low until the band starts and the lights are low, so all the wives (not wives of the band, wives of the rich business men there) don't freak out. Most of them were wearing what appeared to be prom dresses. ugh.
Jeff the Bass player is SUPER cool and is usually the one needing massage the most.
He was a member of popular 1980sheavy metal bands Dokken and Dio. He currently has his own progressive metal group called War and Peace, which was formed in 1993, releasing two albums: 1993's War and Peace and 2004's The Walls Have Eyes. He also works with his ex-Dokken bandmate, guitarist George Lynch in a two-member group called Lynch/Pilson.
He also played in the band Wild Horses (not to be confused with the British band of the same name).
Although he is a renowned primarily for his work as a bass guitarist, Pilson also plays guitar and keyboards.
He played a member of the band Steel Dragon in the 2001 film Rock Star as well as playing on the film's soundtrack.
Pilson is currently the bass player for seventies rock band Foreigner.
Tom in action ^
As I said, Tom told us that since it was a DELL computer private corporate show, for 400 people tops, we should lay low and let the ol' corporate, rich wives shine. We did….for MOST of the night. During "I want to know what love is" we couldn't take it anymore and slinked onto the dance floor, slowly moving towards the stage. There was A LOT of lighting in the place and it was a small hall, so the band could see EVERYONE on the dance floor. Brooke and I slow danced, DIRECTLY in front of the stage, grinding into eachother, squeezing each others buttocks but never cracking a smile. We gazed into each others eyes and ignored the whole room on purpose just to wind the band up. It was so fucking funny distracting the band with our loving slow dance (have you seen the film The Wedding singer? When Drew Barrymore slow dances with the young boy who grabs her butt the whole time?) – well that's what we were doing. It was hysterical. The band naturally told us ALL about it after, saying how hard it was to concentrate lol. I thought they would be mad at us, but we were tired of behaving for so long. heh heh.
Kelly ^ has a slight resemblance to Steven Tyler but I have never told him so. Rock stars hate being compared to other artist.
Don't know why Brian has that look on his face. He must be tired from the night before- too much karaoke!
Ahhhhhh, lovin' life
Isn't Brooke cute?
Uh, never seen a white bike like that before. Had to mount it.
After the show we all went to an Irish pub near their hotel as the Hotel Bar was lame as fuck and closed early. It's NYC, the place that "never sleeps"? I don't think so. Berlin never sleeps. NYC naps.
Apparently Brooke makes me sweat ^
Eric got the karaoke bug too and sang some Chris Isaak for us.
Brooke and Mike Bluestein Foreigner keyboardist ^ has a hell of a resume'
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May 17th, 2008 (look how long it takes me to blog now a days)
Over the two days we hung with the band, they grew to LOVE my driving (and my JBL speakers/sound system) in my car. Some of them preferred to have me drive them to and from rather than hired vans. HEH! My stereo by the way, was louder than the gig. The band was tight as FUCK but the acoustics in that hall are crap. Lots of echo…so the band had to keep it down a bit. But I doubt they cared, corporate gigs (DELL) always pay well 😉
If the band is heading your way, you should try to catch their show. I have seen over 3,000 shows and they are one of the tightest bands live, ever.
x
Thu 05/15/08 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Theatre
Fri 05/16/08 Westbury, NY North Fork Theatre At Westbury
Thu 05/22/08 Visalia, CA Visalia Fox Theatre
Fri 05/23/08 Santa Rosa, CA Wells Fargo Center For The Arts
Sat 05/24/08 Stateline, NV Harrah's Tahoe
Sun 05/25/08 Stateline, NV Harrah's Tahoe
Fri 05/30/08 Torrington, CT Warner Theatre appearing with Bryan Adams
Tue 07/15/08 Augusta, ME Augusta Civic Center
Fri 07/18/08 Portsmouth, VA Ntelos Wireless Pavilion
Sat 07/19/08 Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Sun 07/20/08 Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Amph. At Encore Park
Working on my France and Italy blogs, I swear. It's raining and COLD here in NYC but that does NOT keep me inside. My very good friend Chrissi and I went out the other night for karaoke. I did NOT know it was her first time.
I watched her pop her karaoke cherry and didn't even know it until AFTER she brought the fucking house down doing "I'm torn". She danced all around, held the mic like she had been doing so for years. Then after the song she said "it wasn't as scary as I thought!". I was like "uh, what do you mean?" She told me it was REALLY her first time ever. I was shocked. She was a natural pro! Not a shy cell in her body. Then again, her dad is a rather famous musician so it must be in her genes.
Chrissi luckily got our of the US Army just in time as she was just about to be shipped to Iraq. Now she is back home and enjoying her favorite hobby Sky Diving on a regular basis. She is FEARLESS. I need to call Simon Cowell, this girl belongs on American Idol. She's GOT IT.
