Newyearslog

[Velvet]

Stardate 010211

Up and out the door for coffees from the Italian place one last time. I wonder how long I'd have to live here before I knew all their names? “Tony! Hey Frankie! How's about a coupla coffees ova hea?†I can't believe I didn't eat there once, everything looked so good, and you gotta love a place that puts four large cups of coffee to go in a plain brown paper bag, with plenty of napkins. On the walk back to Greg's I notice the sidewalks are pretty much bare, the streets are no longer lined with cars buried in snow, the temperature a balmy ten degrees. The great blizzard crisis of 2010 is all but over, and people have finally stopped shoveling.

Back at Greg's place Todd was waiting for a cab that would start his journey home, upstate to the Finger Lakes region. We shared a fair chunk of fun together since meeting six days ago and parted good friends, such is the expanding nature of tour. It wasn't long before Heather and I were packing to leave as well, though we still had one or two adventures left in us. We packed up the car and bid Queens farewell for now, with Greg along for a ride into Manhattan to his girlfriend's place. It's a fun city to drive through New York is, very video-game like, though it was of great benefit to have Greg with us as navigator. Eventually we pulled over and bade him farewell, again strangers becoming friends (in my case anyway, Heather has known Greg for a decade, since Big Cypress; again, such is tour).

Once in Manhattan it's easy to find your way around, the street numbering system is so damn efficient. On Greg's suggestion we went several blocks down to 44th and then headed west towards 8th Avenue. At one point I stopped a bit late for a red light and the front end of the car was in the pedestrian crossing lane. Most people were okay with it but a couple of people pointed down to where my front tire was obviously across the line and were saying things I fortunately couldn't hear with the windows rolled up tight. I smiled apologetically and waved and tried to back up as much as I could without freaking out the dude behind me, but some people were quite persistent. It's just a line, geez, there's lots of room. Funny, 'cuz I usually find people in NYC really friendly and generally quite helpful.

Anyway, a few blocks later we were smack dab in the middle of the theater district and managed to find street parking, which was lucky because we were running low on time to grab a bite before our 3pm show. It was a tight squeeze, but we got 'er in. And that's when I noticed what the people were actually trying to tell me back at the crosswalk - that my left front tire was completely flat and I was close to running on rims. And here we are with about twenty-five minutes to eat something, get to will-call, and get our asses in our seats. I actually considering changing the tire then and there and immediately thought better of it.

We found a food court on the way and while Heather decided on pizza and I got in line for Subway. Then I came to my senses and joined Heather for some New York pie for our last eats in the city. We crossed the street and found the St. James Theatre and picked up our tickets for American Idiot, the Broadway musical based on Green Day's second-last album. They were just starting to let people in so we went to get in line and saw it stretched halfway down the block. I mean we had to walk and walk to get to the end of that line. We got inside pretty quick though, and made our way up to our seats, second row balcony.

The room didn't look like it would fit all the people that were in that line, it was very much like the Beacon or the Orpheum. We certainly weren't very far from the stage. I had never been to a Broadway show before and I was excited. I have been a fairly passive Green Day fan since seeing them live about a decade ago, being a guitar teacher I get exposed to pretty much everything they record and I find most of it pretty damn good. Heather used to go see them when she was in high school and she was an easy sell when I suggested getting tickets for the show. The tipping point was that Green Day's singer/guitarist/main dude Billie Joe Armstrong signed on for a limited run appearing in the musical as drug dealer Saint Jimmy, starting yesterday.

The show was very young and rebellious, lots of sex drugs and rock and roll. The music stayed pretty faithful to the album and followed a similar running order, though there were a few rewrites here and there, and they included a few tracks from the newest release as well. The story basically followed three friends as they each spiraled down different paths fucking their lives up in their own unique ways. Pretty high school in concept, though I'll admit I was distracted by thoughts of getting the spare on the car and the flat fixed on a Sunday night.

Billie Joe made his entrance about halfway through the show and was pretty heavily involved thereafter. He sang three or four tunes and was without question the best singer up there. His acting was on par with everyone else too, all around he did an excellent job. The show had an encore, with Armstrong leading the entire cast in a singalong of one of Green Day's biggest hits, and though I was far from blown away overall it was well worth the $40 or so a balcony ticket cost.

We hit the bathrooms on the way out and while waiting for Heather I noticed a back stairway that was obviously faster than going down the main stairs. We wound our way down and found ourselves in the backstage area, I noticed a couple of people waiting outside the door to the cast area. We were in a rush and didn't even consider trying to say hi to Billie Joe, instead finding the exit and emerging into the street to a throng of people corralled behind gates waiting for autographs. We signed none, being in a hurry and all.

Back at the car I busied myself trying to figure out how to get the spare released from the undercarriage and find the jack and all the biz you gotta go through on your first flat with a new car. When we bought the car last year the salesman talked up the free roadside assistance pretty big time, so I had let my CAA membership expire; Heather found the number and called Mitsubishi.

The free roadside assistance proved to be bunkalicious and by the time I had figured out the jack stuff and changed the tire with my ass dangling in traffic in the middle of Manhattan Heather was on her third callback and getting nothing but frustrating non-answers. For the record CAA has never been anything short of excellent, and I'll be renewing my membership ASAP. Of course the spare tire was one of those tiny non-tires (I always swore I wouldn't buy a car that didn't come with a real spare tire), and though we were now mobile again, we were limited to an hour or so of driving, and not to exceed 80kms/hr.

Have I mentioned we were now on our way home?

The plan had been to run out of the theatre after the show, get in the car and boot it home, making it back by 1am or so. As we drove out of the city and into New Jersey seeing nothing but closed signs, it was becoming time to come up with a plan B.

We ended up in Saddle River, NJ of all places, in a $52 fleabag motel, the kind that offers hourly rates and no wi-fi. Everything in the room was suspect, though fortunately there wasn't much in there to begin with, no clock, no chair, nothing on the walls. Around ten o'clock or so I rang the office bell and inquired about ordering food. She looked at me like one of us was crazy. “Ain't noplace gonna deliver 'round here this time of night!†Sheesh. There turned out being a cool Neil Young doc on tv so we ate that for dinner and turned in early. I heard several noises in the parking lot that I knew better than to look into and managed to sleep until about 7am or so. In the morning I accidentally glanced behind the bureau. Shudder. Shortly after eight we were having breakfast at McDonald's while our car waited in line to get fixed at the tire shop next door. Turned out it was a nail. $28 for a plug and we were on our way by 10am and back home unpacking the car and snuggling our kitty-cat by 5pm.

Six shows in six days in a whirlwind birthday/New Years haze fiesta with no obvious permanent damage. That qualifies as an all-around success. A bit pricier than we intended, but a success nonetheless.

Thank-you, goodnight.

[Hartamophone]

Standing ovation.

Great to finally make the face-to-face connection, my friend. Was a beauty way to start off a killer night.

[phorbesie]

Woohoo

it was very nice to meet you and sarah, hart

[Northern Wish]

We got to witness the snow melt first hand as upon arrival at our hotel in Battery Park we noticed a Vespa mirror sticking out of a snowbank across the street.

As the days and shows went on, the Vespa was gradually revealed to us.

On the final morning before departure it was standing back upright on a snow free corner- while four days prior it was just an oddly placed rear view mirror.....

[phorbesie]

[Schwa.]

awesome writeup. awesome pic!

[Hartamophone]

Woohoo

it was very nice to meet you and sarah, hart

Aw shucks, right back at you. Couldn't have asked for a better way to start off the night.

[backbacon]

Great write ups, Velvet! The 12.31 entry is hilarious! As are the light sabre pics, phorbesie!

[phorbesie]

my favourite part is where V thought MSG was going to pass out 20,000 hot dogs to the spun out wookie hippies. hehe

[gentlemonkey]

my favourite part is where V thought MSG was going to pass out 20,000 hot dogs to the spun out wookie hippies. hehe

ditto.

[backbacon]

my favourite part is where V thought MSG was going to pass out 20,000 hot dogs to the spun out wookie hippies. hehe

Yeah, which would have resulted in 19,998 hot dogs being left behind on the floor! (Assuming Velvet ate your hot dog too!)

[Baj]

Yes! Another Grate Phantastic Vlog! Thank you!

I was excited to read you guys traveled through my little home town of St.Stephen on this adventure before you crossed into Calais. That is one of the easiest border crossings ever haha...I remember a better time before 911 when they would just wave at you through the office window and you were through like nothing...

Thanks again and keep the logs coming

Happy new year