The Logo
The Plan
Leaving Tuesday, May 19th, mid-day and driving to San Francisco to stay at a hotel near the airport so I can get up Wednesday morning at…..3 A.M. for a 5:45 flight to Denver, then Denver to LaGuardia – do not ask why I am not flying direct!! But I am flying First Class for the first time (for the trip over, anyway)!!!
I have 5 BETM’s scheduled and most likely a 6th if I get into New York on time on Wednesday. Also have a very cool special event planned for Friday! Will tell you more about it when it happens.
And…………I am gong to meet some awesome people who I only know online so far!!
Incidentally, it is possible that I will never actually eat dinner when in New York. We have two group dinners in the works, one for Thursday night and one for Friday, and so far no one can agree on where to eat! It is New York, people!! How hard can it be??? 🙂
(The rest of this post can be read by selecting the “more” link.)
(Because my website was down for my entire trip, all that follows was written after my return.)
Day One
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
Greetings from New York City, the land of Honky-Honky, Beep-Beep, where the madness of the drivers is only exceeded by the madness of the pedestrians.
But this is the end of Day Three, so I must backtrack to Day Neg-One.
My journey began as planned, a terror filled drive from placid Hughson, California to the freeways and congestion of the Bay Area. To be precise, I was heading to a Best Western Hotel in Millbrae, near the San Francisco Airport. This hotel, incidentally, is famous because it has a swimming pool where the swimmers can be observed from an lower level bar – a scene from the movie The Right Stuff was filmed in said bar!
And wouldn’t you know it: I plugged in my laptop computer and discovered it to be DOA. Now you may consider this unlucky, and indeed it was, but if you are to have your computer got tits-up on you, there is no better place to do it than within walking distance of a) a computer repair shop where they declared the mother board dead and did a hard drive donor transplant to a external case so I would not lose my data; and b) an Office Depot store where they had a replacement laptop. I guess you would not consider me lucky as I started my vacation spending about $900 that I do not have; suffice to say I will NOT be going to London anytime soon. Or New York! Or Disneyland! Or the grocery store!
By the way – during this adventure, I discovered that the %$#^% hotel pen leaked all over my shirt and my skin, ruining my shirt – but not my skin, so far – to which the kind and concerned lobby staff responded, “Oh?”
(NOTE: The day after I returned home the manager of the hotel responded to my comments on the survey about the pen; he very kindly credited me $25 to my bill.)
Well, new laptop in hand, I got up at 2:30 the next morning to get to the SFO airport by 4:00 to check in for my 5:45 flight. First Class, baby. The way to go! Best food and service I have ever had on an airplane. And since I am pretty sure I will not be making any more trips soon, I used another 15k miles to upgrade the return flight!
Flew into Denver, arrived early; flew into New York and arrived about 7 minutes late, but my car service was ready for me and the traffic was wonderful, and I arrived at my hotel at 5:30 PM about an hour ahead of schedule.
The weather on my first day was lovely; I was sweating like crazy in my jacket and wool cap, which has been retired for the duration. Hotel room at the Radio City Apartments is a little studio apartment, just perfect, with a tiny kitchenette area for cutting and storing Husky Treats!!
Now, while I was approaching New York City, I was in contact with my friend RTM2008, who was standing in, and in fact created, a cancellation line at the Imperial Theater, just for me as I had no Wednesday night ticket!
So I get settled into my hotel room, and head out to meet him, remembering from my map that I turn right out of my hotel room. Now, in my defense, New York City does not have street signs on all four corners of every death defying intersection. They have placed them on one corner, the one where I am NOT! And I can not read them. And, I should note for future reference, the correct direction to turn when leaving my hotel is LEFT!
So I am lost, hopelessly. And it does not help that RTM has chosen to put his phone on “Ignore Dave” so I can only contact him by texting, which I suck at. (Spell check says that “texting” is not a word! Hahahah what do they know!”) So I am wandering lost as RTM tries to guide me in. Finally after losing every time advantage I had gained by my early arrival, I find the Imperial, tired and absolutely soaking wet, so bad that I could not give hugs, ironically, to Hugsy2k or Geridith! I might have hugged RTM as I hold him responsible for getting me lost! Hahahaha!
So my first night ticket was a beauty, the best of my trip probably, arranged by a very nice guy who saw I was in the cancellation line and checked for the ticket like and hour before the line normally opens. Dunno his name, but he was encouraged by Hugsy2k and Geridith! Bless all three of them, including RTM, for their kindness.
Nice dinner at a nearby Thai place and then the show.
Row G, seat 105, dead center and up close, it was terrific!
And so was the show – review to come elsewhere – but it was David squared and they were wonderful. The best BETM I have seen, and very moving!
Afterward, at the stage door, got some nice pics and autographs with cast members including David and David – such wonderful people, all of this cast and staff.
So we are waiting for Haydn and Greg, the adult stars. There are 6 of us – four forum members and two other guys. We wait and wait because they are giving a tour. And the stage door guy keeps coming out and letting us know they will be along.
So finally Haydn comes out and we all get a chance to chat, pics, autographs. What a lovely person.
And then we waited for Greg. And then all of a sudden the stage door guy says, “You guys get in here and get up on stage!”
What?!!!
So he ushers us in and onto the stage, which is about 10 feet from the stage door. Among the two strangers with us was a young theater arts student. He was overwhelmed, whispering to himself, “I am on a Broadway stage. Oh my God!” May have been the highlight of my trip to hear and see his joy, which was intensified when Greg Jbara came in, apologized for being in a hurry, and then took pictures and signe autographs. What an amazing gentleman!
And an amazing way to end the night, as Hugsy2k walked me back to my hotel room so I would not get lost again!
What a fine first day!!
Time for bed! But first, I had to do some laundry. You see, I brought with me a limited number of short sleeved shirts, one of which you will recall was killed by a leaky pen before I ever left California. And I realized right away that I was not going to make because I needed two shirts a day in this weather. This is one thing which the trip to London last year taught me – bring laundry soap. Tide makes these wonderful little packets of liquid soap, just enough to wash a few things in a hotel room sink. The shirts dried just in time for me to wear them again on Saturday!
Day Two
Thursday, May 21st – The Bataan Death March and Other Fine Things
The weather on the second day was nothing short of glorious, a fine spring day with just enough breeze top make the stench of the city bearable and to send one a tantalizing aroma of street foor being prepared.
Let my just say this right of the start, and I know that all of you New Yorkers will say, “You shold have seen it a few years back, it was worse!” – New York City is filthy! I’m sorry, but after being in London for a week and finding it, for the most part, spotless, NYC is a freaking embarassment – maybe all US cities are. London doesn’t even have any trash bins and it is still cleaner.
Having said that, I know that New Yorkers are working very hard to change all that, and the other things about New York, such as the food stalls on the streets and the overall vibvrancy of life, more than make up for it.
On that happy note, we begin day two.
You would be surprised at how hard it is to find a donut in New York City – a good one anyway. Some lady tried to tell me where there was a Dunkin Donuts, but I never found one, so I finally nibble on something resembling a donut, which gave me strength for the hell which was to take place.
Thursday is the day that the Broadway Softball League has their games, and we want to go to root BETM to victory against Guys and Dolls. Only a couple of cast members play – the kids are “banned”, partly because they are in school or rehearsing, and partly because, in the case of the Billys and Michaels, they are too valuable to risk getting hurt – and unfortunately Greg Jbara was not there either, due to a Tony luncheon.
But I am ahead of myself.
On Thursday morning Hugsy2k was tasked with the honor of escorting Freebird and Mike and I to the game. Now, in fairness to her, she did offer to tkae us to Cebtral Park by subway or taxi, but it was a beautiful day and I like to walk and so we all agreed to walk…..and walk…..and walk…..and walk. And it was hot and humid, and then we actually had to walk UP a slope or two once we were in Central Park, at which time we found out that she really had not idea where the game was…so we walked….and walked….and walked…and walked. At one point our sadistic guard allowed us to stop for a hot dog and water break.
Now, I was told that the hot dog I was having was not a “real” New York hot dog, but I say if you have a hot dog in New York, it is a New York hot dog!
And then we walked…..and walked….and, well you get the picture. And finally we found RTM2008, who we also discovered was a sadist in his own right, waiting at the game.
The game was fun, Hugsy and I inundated Greg’s webmaster with photos of the game afterwards. BETM won and has a perfect season going so far!
After the game, Hugsy turned us over to the other prison guard, RTM2008, for the remainder of the Bataan death march, although this adventure did also involve my first and last subway ride!
Okay, hopefully my last gripe about New York City – the subway system sucks, again compared to London. I was told that it is easy once you get used to it, but the difference is, it took me about 5 minutes to get used to the London Underground; I still have no idea how RTM2008 knew which direction the trains were going and which ones to get on. And of course, the New York subway is as dirty as the rest of the city. Funny thing, I kept expecting the turnstile to open when I swiped my card, like in London. LOLÂ I used up $4.00 in swipes before RTM told me you just had to push through the gate!!! I confess I am an idiot, but I learned how to ride a subway with Oyster cards and very hard to get past that.
So where were we going on this adventure? To the end of Manhattan to see the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center site. I took pictures of the Statue of Liberty from a distance – I saw no reason to take the time and spend the money on something I could read about cheaper. So anyway, as you might imagine, we walked….and we walked….and we walked…with RTM2008 trying to top Hugsy2k in the human torture department. I was pretty sure it was only a matter of time before Freebird (who is a guy, btw) Mike and I woudl be subjected to water boarding!
Okay, in fairness to Hugsy2k and RTM, I am the one who said I liked walking, I am in resonably good shape, and these walks should not have worn me down as much as they did. And, if we are being completely honest, I would not have had it any other way. The weather was too beautiful to be stuck in a cab or under ground!
Our first big group dinner together was at vinyl, a pretty cool place that was a bit too loud. Rashasha1, Freebird, RTM2008, Clue, Hugsy2k and Geridith. You will notice during this narrative that Mike is not with us at many of the dinners because almost always at dinner time he was standing in line for a ticket to either BETM or some other show.
Sadly, because of other committments, this evening was the only time I had to spend with my buddy Rash! Such fun to meet her and put a face to a name!
Well this day has gone on a long time, and I still have more days to cover.
The evening show was great and then it was off to bed!
Day Three
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
Okay! This wonderful weather needs to stop!! Had to wash another shirt today to make sure it would be dry for Sunday!
I met Freebird for a breakfast at the Edison Cafe, okay but nothign special, and then we were off to do some shopping and, you guessed it, more walking!!!
We went to the Empire State Building so I could check that off my list – no I did not go up it; if you will recall from my London trip, going up into high objects that are nut jet-powered is low on my list. I thank God that my 11th floor hotel room had a little ledge outside the windows so I could not actually see that I was 11 stories up!!
Anyway, we went there, and then walked by Macy’s…and walked by Macy’s…and walked by Macy’s. Big store!! And we went to B&H camera, also huge electronics store with an amazing number of employees. We were there on a Friday – the place must be nuts on Saturday!
We also went to the M&M store in Times Square where I bought way too much stuff! But nothing edible, I am proud to say! Also found some wonderfully kitschy lighters for my collection during our walks around.
We met up with Mike at Juniors, a marvelous restaurant nearly across the street from the stage door! I had an egg salad sandwhich on challah bread! Huge!!! Oh, and I had one of my annual beers. Quite tasty!
After lunch we all kind of split up, and then I met up with Hugsy who came over to help me find a Kinkos where I could print out a new itinerary as I had, after my wonderful first class flights over, decided to use more miles to upgrade the return trip. Hugsy led me through back alleys and under a weird waterfall thingy and I have no idea where, to finally find our destination!
And after that, she took me to a bakery which is famous for its cupcakes. Now, I do not know what this thing is about the cupcakes, but everyone told me I had to have them, maybe because they are like $3.00 each or something like that! They were good!
Which brings us to yet another walking trek around the Times Square area trying to find a place for dinner, this time with Freebird, RTM2008, Clue, Bobz, Hugsy2k, and Geridith – yup, Mike was off looking for tickets to something again! We walked and we walked…and at last we did find a Greek restraunt that I had wanted to try. It was great. And we had fun.
And finally, the show, Tanner was on and of course, reviews will follow on the FriendsofBilly website later.
And after the show came the highlight of the week – a private backstage tour with Greg Jbara. IOt didn’t quite work out as planned, but in the end was great. Greg and a few other adult and young cast members spent a few minutes doing a Q & A session with a bunch of school students who had come for the show. It was great fun to listen to and watch them. Then Greg gathered us on the stage and introduced himself to each one of us, although he remembered some of us from Wednesday night. Unfortunately, our 10 person private tour had grown to include a bunch of other people who I guess had also been promised a tour, the result being that Greg couldnt take us “back” stage. But he told some great stories and showed us what he could from the stage itself. Some people could look upon the limited tour as a disappointment, but I look at it this way – 99% of the people who see BETM will never get to stand on that stage talking to one of the stars, getting a picture with him, and getting some inside stories. I consider myself lucky and blessed, and I am grateful to Hugsy2k for arranging it!
Now, you would think that on a Friday night in New York City it would be easy to find a bar that was open at 11:30 at night! Think again!! Yeah, there were a lot of noisy clubs in Times Square, but finding something a little quieter was a lot tougher. So we walked…and we walked…and….finally we found a place that Geridith, alwasy the charmer, talked a guy into letting us use one of the dining tables for our group. And even this place was closing up at midnight or something. Weird, huh? Oddly enough, I did not have another drink, as I had had a glass of wine with dinner.
Anyway, very late bedtime and another day to follow!
Day Four
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 – a date that will live in infamy (sort of)
Today is the day I discovered the reason for the second computer related disaster of my vacation! It seems that several weeks ago my web host had sent me an email advising me that my sever would be changed. Unfortunately, because the web host had been the cause of some spam recently, many ISPs were blocking mail from them, mine included. So I never got the mail, and they never followed up with me. No problem, I changed the name servers on Wednesday and expected all to be well by now. But Friday morning I found out that when they moved my files to the new server, they did not check them for corruption before they shut down the old servers. So now I had no web site. The only good news is that I backed up my site two days before I left and had made only minor changes since then; the bad news was that my backup was several thousand miles to the west of me!!!!
Bad start to an otherwise wonderful day, so who cares.
Yes, the weather was wonderful again – had to wash a pair of socks and another shirt, just to be safe!
I went off to Juniors for my first round of challah french toast – this is indeed, wonderful.
Now, it is important to note that I am an early riser by nature, as a result of which I a) have gotten little sleep so far and b) have no one to eat breakfast with.
So I ate alone and plotzed around for a bit, then met Freebird at Juniors and watched him eat breakfast at about 9:30. Those of you who know, know that the ticket booht for Next To Normal is right next to Juniors. So We are sitting there and all of a sudden I hear someone yelling “Dave! Dave!” and I look over to see Hugsy in the line for tickets. Turns out she had called me on my phone like three times while we were sitting there, but I had not heard it and she had been too embarassed to yell across the 35 feet of empty space that separated us.
Okay, while we are on it, here is the most frustrating thing! My cell phone! Worked too well, but every time I turned around someone was texting me about something, or calling me, and half the time I could not hear the ringer because New York City is loud! I was nuts by the end of the trip. And also, I am not very good at texting. But I can not imagine how people did a trip like this without cell phones!!!
Really not a lot going on Saturday as there was a show at 2 and then at 8. I did get my first panhandler that afternoon, who actually approached me, and then there was the Navajo Indian who sat on the steps near my hotel – more about him later.
After the 2 PM show I did something rather uncharacteristic of me. There was a lady in a wheelchair who I heard asking her helper where the stage door was. So I showed them where it was and then pretty much bulled my way through the crowd and got her right on the edge of the railing closest to the stage door, handed her my playbill, and then just started rather agressively getting cast members to come over and sign it for her, and last of all managed to get David A. to take a picture with her, which I sent her later on. I mention this story not to elevate myself, but to share with you the joy this lady had in meeting these people and having her picture taken. And to share the kindness of the cast of this show that took their time for her. The cast and crew and staff of BETM are nothing short of amazing!
We ate dinner at a Brazilian restaurant that night – a small group of us consisting of Snowtigr, Freebird, Bobz and myself. Okay food, but not great. Great company however!! Mike was getting a ticket for th enight show!
The second show was, in my opinion, the best BETM I have ever seen. Kiril was in top form, and it was superb!
The great ticket swaps! Okay, so this is interesting. I had a seat in J5 right orchestra for Saturday matinee. But Bobz had decided he did not want his C-1 seat in the left orchestra, which is a very nice seat. He was going to another show. So he offerred it to me over the phone. About two seconds later, a lady came up to us asking if we had a ticket, and I said we might. So when Bobz came, I took his ticket and then he sold the lady my ticket for $80 (a $46 savings) and she was thrilled and so was Bobz since he was not planning on getting anythign for it. This lady’s day was made, and Freebird talked to her later and she was thrilled! And my C-1 seat was amazing!!!
Oh, and later for the evening show, Mike had gotten a really nice seat G114 in the center orch, but he had not seen the show from the Mezzanine and I had A-6 in the front mezz, so we swapped tickets again! Another plus for us both!
This day was over, but it had been great!
Day Five
Sunday, May 34th, 2009 – the last full day!
Yeah, you guessed it! The freaking weather was awesome! A perfect day for a zillion block long street fair which I walked twice!
But first I had breakfast at Juniors, hung out a bit, met Freebird at Juniors for his breakfast, and then went to the street fair, which was a lot of cheap stuff and good food, and a lot of people. They closed off all of 7th Ave from 47th almost to Central Park. A lot of fun and a chance to enjoy street food! Mike and Freebird and I walked it and then we lost Mike again but Snowtigr joined us, and we just hung out until it was time to go tot he 3PM show.
But, more ticket swapping. It seemed that Freebird had a ticket for the show but could not got because his flight was too early. And he had a seat over on the right side, B-10, while I had H-5. So this time I took Freebird’s B-10 seat which is at too far irght an angle for my tastes but very up close and fun to watch the show from once. And Mike took my seat, because he did not have one for the show. And this was all thanks to Geridith who had first shot at Dale’s ticket but kindly gave it up to Mike!
This was my first Trent show, and it was great! Better though, was my chance to talk to Trent’s dad after the show. He knew who I was because of the “Billy Elliot, the Box” video I did. A wonderful guy. And so is his son, who agreed to let me take a picture with him, which I am sure we both regret when you see my face! But surely a highlight of the trip.
Now, luckily for me, Hair was sold out, as several others in our group wanted to see it. In stead we went to Serendipity for dinner, where we waited about 90 minutes to sit down and have their famous frozen hot chocolate! Worth the wait although my stomach got revenge on me later!
Oh, I forgot that earlier I did have what I was assured was a “true” New York hot dog!!!
While waiting for our table at Serendipity, we walked odwn the street to Dylan’s Candy Bar, three freaking stories of candy! I had trouble finding the malted milk balls until I was directed downstairs where I found 10 different kinds!!!!!!! Heaven!!!
Oh, the trip to Serendipity and back were my only two cab rides of the trip. A word about cab drivers and all drivers in New York City. Everything you have heard about them is true, in spades!!!! These people are fraking nuts!!! How they manage not to hit each other I do not know!! And they honk their horns for no reason!!
One final thing about this day. At the end of the street fair was a booth that sold old fashioned soda drinks like root beer and sasparilla and the like. They did this by giving you a stainless steel cup, and then you could refill it with ice and soda all day long. $10. Actually a good deal. Well, Freebird bought one and then realized that he wold prolly not be able to pack it. So when we went by the Navajo, we put a few bucks in it and gave it to the guy so that he would have something better than the paper coffee cups to beg with. A very kind thing for Freebird to do, and the Navajo was very happy!
Alas, I had to say goodbye to all as I got out of the cab, and not a proper goodbye as I was in a hurry to get to my room and barf. Ehh, too much good stuff.
Day Six
Monday, May 25th, 2009 – Memorial Day!
I flew home uneventfully, albeit first class, bright and early Monday morning.
Conclusion
So now some final thoguhts.
Joys:
Meeting all of the wonderful people who made this trip great:
Rashasha1 – how did we not get to spend more time together?
RTM2008 – special thanks for the cancellation line and helping me not get lost
Freebird – a great hanging around with guy even though he sleeps too late; well except for getting Tommy Batchelor to make fun of my camera!
Hugsy2k – special thanks for all she did to set up the tour and other things
Geridith – special thanks to you as well for yoru kindness
Bobz – thanks for the great ticket
Mike – ditto on that
Clue – another person who I didn’t get to chat with as much as I’d like
Snowtigr – thanks for the Windows advice; she promises Windows 7 will be a hit!
More joys:Â Meeting all the cast at the stage door, going up on stage twice with Greg, seeing the joy in the faces of the college theater arts major and the lady in the wheelchair, talking to Trent’s dad.
One more joy: They place I stayed, Radio City Apartments, was awesome! On 49th between 6th and 7th, just a perfect spot! Nice rooms, each with a kitchenette. I had a studio, but their two bedroom apartments sleep 5, and that is a real bargain which comes to about $80 a night per person!
Disappointments: Not spending more time talking to Rashy, not seeing Frank D., not being there another week or two, but none of us could have afforded it.
Okay, so for all the dirty streets, I loved New york! There is life there that you can not find in London! I loved being able to approach the cast members, especially the kids, and talk to them like human beings. And thier parents and families are so nice as well!
And I will say right now, without hesitation, that it was the best “adventure” so far!!!