September 3, 2016- Howard Jones Concert- September 2-Part 1

I decided to walk to the Paramount Theatre so I wouldn’t have the anxiety of calling for a cab then. I was worrying about having to do so for later throughout the day though, even during the show. It turned out to be a longer trek than the one mile that I thought that it would be. It was more like 2.

   I had a lot of time to kill so I looked in some stores. I went into Walgreens and bought an unsweetened iced tea. A girl outside of here thought that I was one of her former teachers at first. In a shopping plaza, I went to K-Mart, Marshalls and Old Navy.

   I passed by a cemetery too which was freaky because I was walking through one in my nightmare of a few days ago.

    Normally, I don’t mind being on such adventures by myself but for the first time I was feeling really lonely. I was wishing that Sharon could have been a part of this one.

    I was pretty close to the stage- row 4, seat 3. I had mistakenly thought that I was in row 3, seat 4. I had a perfect view. I feel awful for wishing that this was a Duran Duran show instead; I would be right in front of John.

   I hate that I was thinking about DD a lot yesterday. In the morning, I had actually seen a picture of John with Howard on Tumblr.

   The concert was good. I forget parts of it already, like which song was first. I was so happy that he did one of my favorites “The Prisoner”. I was hoping that he’d perform “Lift Me Up” but he didn’t. The songs of his that I’ve been listening to the most lately are these and “Everlasting Love” which was also a part of the set list.

    I am pretty sure that the last song was “Things Can Only Get Better”. ? I was feeling kind of depressed and thinking “No, nothing is going to get better for me”. Was “New Song” included in this encore too or had that been done earlier? 

   Luckily, a cab was waiting outside of the theater already so I didn’t have to call for one. He waited to see if he could get another passenger (because his boss tells him to do so) but no one else needed a ride.

  Thanks to the LIIR, I missed the last train out of NYC by about 7 minutes. This wouldn’t have happened if they had just let passengers on the train sooner instead of just having the train sit there for like 15 minutes first.

   That 3 hours and 40 minutes in Penn Station seemed to last forever. The time of the first morning train on the weekend is 50 minutes later which made it even worse. I was too exhausted in every way to focus on my book. I was only able to read a couple of pages and even that was difficult.

   My brother was sitting outside waiting for Tony. His merchandise for the flea market was there too. They usually load up the truck on Friday night. He thought that I had been in Manhattan. I hadn’t wanted to tell him that this show was in Huntington for fear that he would tease me for wanting to go out that far for it.

 

July 21, 2016- Duran Duran at the Apollo- July 19

I was so lucky that I got a seat in the 3^rd row orchestra section. I didn’t even have to pay that extra fan club fee. The price was high enough as is without it. My seat was the furthest one to the left though. My view of Roger’s drum kit was partially blocked.

   John must have been on that mini keyboard thing during “Last Night in the City” as he’s been at the other shows but I couldn’t even see that at all. Kiesza was performing with them during this song.

   A girl who had been at the album signing recognized me. I thought that she did look familiar. We were talking to each other outside of theater, mostly about music and concerts. She mentioned that she had been to the Def Leppard concert at the PNC Center this summer. I told her that my brother and I saw them in 2005.

   It turns out that she was in the row behind me, two seat over. I was a little jealous that she had a better view than me. I should have asked what her name is and found out if she’s on Facebook. It would have been nice to keep in touch with her that way. Not that I have really contact my Duran Duran buddies on there, except for Jenny around certain concert times.

   I was also talking to a very nice employee. I had thought that Chic was going to be the opening act but he told me that they weren’t. He likes them too.

  Tokimonsta, a girl DJ, was the opener. She mistakenly said that Chic would be there. The show had started at 8 p.m. so there couldn’t be 2 opening acts.

   The theater is beautiful and also small. I am pretty sure that Simon said that 1,800 people were there. I don’t recall exactly what John said about this place; it might have been something like they were happy and honored to be performing there.

   Unfortunately, I don’t remember much about the show.  I read other fans’ posts about their concert experiences and they always include lots of details- usually good- about them. I wish that my brain could hold onto such things too. 

   I do recall some insignificant stuff like John shaking a few girl’s hands. He also handing a couple of them his water bottles, I think. The front row fans ran right up to the stage shortly before the show began.

   I am almost certain that the two people who had been in the seats in front of me did so too. That wasn’t right. Well, this gave me a clear view of John so I won’t complaining that much about this.

   I had arrived in the city earlier than I originally had planned on. I looked around Macy’s. I bought a Kiehl’s facial cleanser there. It is expensive. This better work for that price. I am getting so tired of wasting money on ineffective beauty products.

   I looked around some other stores in the Herald Square area too- H&M, Old Navy, and Urban Outfitters. The latter has records and portable turntables. I ate in McDonald’s inside of Macy’s and sat outside of that store for a little while too.

   I should have stayed in that part of town for longer. I got to Harlem way too soon. I did look around some stores to kill time but this was so boring. I got unsweetened iced tea at Barnes and Noble.

   My cab driver, Quinn, remember me from a previous time. That was probably after another Duran Duran show. I mentioned that I had been at the Apollo to see them. He seemed shocked and impressed that I had gone there alone. We talked about music. Did he say that Duran Duran is cool (or something like that) this time or the last? Perhaps both.

Confetti

Note- all of the concert photos are from the internet.

June 16, 2016- Howard Jones Day

I didn’t think that I had won the fan pass for the Howard Jones mini concert on the Plaza because I hadn’t received an email about this by Saturday. When I checked on Monday- or was it Tuesday- I saw that in there.

   Part of me was happy but then the fearful and anxious side was thinking that maybe it would not be such a good idea to go to this event. I was debating on it up until the very morning of it. I am glad that I didn’t wimp out on this.

   I had a good time despite having to stand in the rain for like 2 hours including the sound check. Luckily, it cleared up before his performance. He did “Things Can Only Get Better” and “No One Is To Blame”.

   The fans wanted him to perform a third song- “New Song”. He came over to us and sang a little of this which was cool.

   I can’t remember if he did a bit of another song as part of a promo (or whatever that is called) as Duran Duran did with “Notorious”. It might have been “Like to Get to Know You Well”.

   The producer- or whatever Alex’s job title is- told the crowd (it was relatively small) to move over to the other area if you wanted to watch the hosts do a segment on funny dads. The devoted Howard Jones fans stayed near the stage.

   I wasn’t really interested in seeing that segment plus I didn’t want to lose my good spot. I had started out in like a 5^th row but wound up in a 2^nd one. Some people had left entirely and others went to the other area temporarily.

   I was so tired after this experience. It had seemed pretty surreal, actually. I had overheard one girl saying that Howard had done a concert in Central Park on Monday night. I wish that I had known about this. I would have liked to have been at that.

   It is not as if I am a devoted fan of his like she is. I do like his music and seem to have been getting into it more lately. I had never even seen any of his videos until like the last couple of months. I’ve watched four of them including “Lift Me Up” which I saw 4 times in the past 10 days.

   I had thought about bringing one of his 45s with me with hopes of him signing this for me but part of me said not to bother because it is highly doubtful that this would ever happen. Well, the girl in front of me had an album with her that he did sign. She even got on camera with that.

    I probably would have been too scared to even ask him if he would sign my album too anyhow. I still am regretting not having this with me though. Maybe I would have gotten brave but that is highly unlikely.    

   I had Duran Duran on my brain even at this event. I was flashing back to being at their performance in the Plaza in September. Naturally, I wished that I had been close to them as I was this time for Mr. Jones.

   Someone said that he was going to be on “Fallon” that night but I don’t really watch the late night talk shows except when DD is on them. I should have done so for him too.

   I sort of wish that I had gone to Luke Bryan’s “Today” show performance too even though I didn’t have a fan pass. I would have been in the back of the crowd and probably wouldn’t have seen him much or even at all. It was raining that day also.

   I was not feeling up to doing anything else in the city after the show. I did go to the Magnolia Bakery to get my brother a magic cookie bar. I didn’t see any of these out so I bought him a red velvet cupcake and chocolate chunk cookie instead.

   My HJ fan pass got messed up by the rain. I thought that I had been careful when putting it in my waterproof tote bag. I had even put it inside of another bag inside of this. Luckily, the part of it with his photo and details about the event are alright. Even this damage is unacceptable to me though.

   I never did tell Amy which fan pass that I had entered to win. She will be finding out next Tuesday when I tell her about my experience.

 

 

April 27, 2016- The Band Perry and More

I am glad that I didn’t wimp out of going to see the “Today” show mini concert of The Band Perry on the Plaza this morning. I had to take my brother’s Metro card though because I didn’t have time to add to mine then. I must have just missed the subway. I had to wait 15 minutes for the next one. I got to the studio by 5:40.

   They did a sound check of 3 songs but only performed 2 of them during the show. “Live Forever” was one. I don’t know why they didn’t do the 3^rd song. I am just happy that we did get to see this even though it was just in sound check. I am so upset that I can’t remember if it was “Done” or “Better Dig Two” that got left out. I hate my poor memory.

   It might have been the former, the one that I like more. Whatever. It was a good performance that I really enjoyed. I didn’t even know the first names of the Perry siblings in this group until I looked them up tonight. They are Kimberly, Neil and Reid.  I had been meaning to do so for a long time. Janet, the lady who was hanging out with, didn’t know either which made me feel less stupid.

   Janet had her 12 year old daughter with her. They are from New Jersey too; down the shore at exit 98. I told her that I am right next to exit 136. The three of us went over to the NBC Experience store afterwards to take part in the “Who Knew?” segment of the 10:00 hour of the show. Kathie Lee was there asking the questions that had an Olympic theme.

   Janet got picked as one of the 7 who got to answer these. Three got them right and received $100.00 each. Janet and the 3 others who didn’t won a signed copy of Kathie Lee’s CD.

   I heard a bit of DD’s song “Rio” being played before the trivia segment on the monitor. I hadn’t even thought about this song in regards to the Olympic site. I might have on some other occasion. Mike later told me that Natalie picked this one as her song of the day during the 9:00 “Today’s Take” hour.

   We stayed at the store to do a meet and greet/photo op with 2 female Olympic athletes who I have forgotten the names of. They left before I was done. I can’t help thinking that they might have thought that I was a little weird and wanted to get away from me.

   Just a small part of me is upset about this. I can’t believe that I actually asked them if I could tag along with them to the store in the first place. That is not normally something that I would do.

   They had a lot of Olympic athletes there because it is the 100 day countdown to that event in Rio. I haven’t really been interested in the Olympics for a long time, maybe like 1992. I always preferred the winter games. It was kind of cool seeing them though.

   The Paralympic athletes were over on our side a few times. The one had a companion doggie with her. I had never seen a standard poodle being used as one of those. I should have taken a picture of it. I shouldn’t have listened to the side of me that said that this wasn’t necessary.

   I got to see Hoda too. She came outside when The Band Perry was being interviewed. I was taking photos of her then. I should have mostly paid attention to the interview. I don’t even remember if it was audible or not. Maybe just some of it was. Perhaps if I hadn’t been focusing too much on Hoda I would know for sure. That was pretty foolish of me.

Hoda

 

April 25, 2016- Chiller Theatre Show

We were at this event longer than I thought that we would be, partly because Tony was doing a lot of talking with people. Also, he and Mike spent like 20 minutes picking out DVDs that they are going to try to resell at the flea market. They got a deal of only .50 each. 

   I guess that I am glad that I went. At the beginning of the day, I was sort of wishing that I could just stay home and watch the tennis and Mets game. We did see Kerber win the Stuttgart tournament before leaving then watched part of the rebroadcast of the Barcelona tournament final which Nadal won.

   Mike actually got the same two autographs that I did which was a bit surprising but I was glad that he did so. First, we went to Robert Pine. He seemed nice. Mike and he were chatting about westerns which Mr. Pine was a guest star in a lot of. We found out that he is buddies with Robert Fuller, who is in another favorite show of ours,” Emergency”.

   Mike got to shake his hand which I am a little jealous about. I hadn’t even thought to stick out my hand to try to do so when I was saying “Nice to meet you”, probably because I am not usually a touchy-feely person.

   We returned to that living room area later on to get Larry Wilcox’s autograph. I had been debating on doing so when walking around and observing the stars. I figured why not since I have one of them. Neither of us were interested in getting that of Erik Estrada. He was charging $20.00 more than the other two.

   I don’t know why, but Mr. Wilcox shook my hand twice. He did say that my hand is cold. I said something dumb in reply to that- they are always cold. I should have said often and not always.

   While we were waiting on that line, I saw this boy of about 7 or 8 years old getting excited about meeting Robert Pine. That was so funny and cute. That it about how old my brother and I were when we started watching “CHiPs”.

   We forgot to go back to the outside area to see the salvage truck from “Sanford and Son”.  We did see the Monkees car earlier but that wasn’t there yet. It was cool seeing Demond Wilson who played Lamont in this show that our family used to enjoy watching.

   It was interesting seeing Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules”), Ernest Thomas and Danielle Spencer (“What’s Happening”), Bernie Kopell (“The Love Boat”), George Wendt (“Cheers”), Marc Price (“Family Ties”), Nana Visitor (“Deep Space Nine”) and Max Baer (“The Beverly Hillbillies”).

   A few of the Rocky Horror Picture Show stars, including Barry Bostwick, were also there. Tony had thought about getting their autographs but didn’t. He had been on line for Rob Schneider’s but after an hour gave up on that. He said that he must have been running late on the photo op session upstairs.

   We saw some music stars- Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork from the Monkees, Weird Al Yankovic (the song parody guy), and Martha Davis from the Motels. Tony was disappointed that Meatloaf and Alice Cooper weren’t there. They were the other 2 days.

   I was talking to a lady who had an adorable pug puppy named Winston while waiting for my brother to get done in the restroom. I felt less nervous talking to her than I did to the stars, probably because a doggie was the major part of our conversation.

   I wish that I hadn’t been afraid to ask if I could buy the nice “CHiPs” cast shot that was on Mr. Wilcox’s table. Even Michael Dorn was in that shot. Mike was lucky that he got to meet him. If I hadn’t been afraid to go to these shows with him and Tony in the past, I would have to.

   Mike said that maybe I could find this for sale online. I hope so. I would have paid $5.00 for it but not $10.00 which he said he bets that would be what they would have charged if they agreed to sell it to me.

 

 

April 9 2016- 2 Duran Duran Casino shows-Part 1

I am still feeling a bit tired from my 2 DD adventures this week. It also feels like I am coming down with a cold, probably from the craziness of this schedule. I devoted so many hours towards this group for these shows, most of it travel (12 hours via buses and rail) and waiting time.

   The bus arrived at the Sands in Bethlehem by 2:00 p.m. I hadn’t been able to use my NJT discount card on the ticket. I didn’t even realize that I would be getting a $45.00 card to use at the casino; that is $10.00 additional to the ticket price.

   I don’t normally gamble but Jenny told me that I should use it. I am glad that I followed her suggestion; I won $205.00. This is the first time that I really gambled at a casino. I don’t count the 50 cents that I put in one machine at AC in 1992. I don’t plan on doing so ever again.

   I would have probably won more if I had just gone to the simple machine (with the cherries, bars, and such) to begin with. Before this, I was on a couple that were too confusing to me. I only won like $3.00 for the $12.00 that I bet on these.

    The show was great. Of course, we both wished that we could be closer to the stage. I was wondering aloud how many rows were the more expensive ticket. The lady behind me said only the first 4. I had thought it would be at least 1-10.

   I had looked in the outlet shops there to kill time before the show. They have Puma, The Farmer’s Almanac Old Time General Store, Tommy Hilfiger, Chico’s, Guess, Corelle and Corningware, Charming Charlies (a lot of nice jewelry), and others.

    I went over to the concert venue area at about 5:30. I wasn’t in the mood to hang around the other fans so I sat on the floor at a distance. I did hear one mention a past concert experience and John’s name was a part of this but I don’t remember what she said.

   Another reason that I didn’t want to be over there was because if I had been at this event on my own and had the GA ticket, I surely would have been like within the first 3 or 4 rows. A girl was selling an extra one for $25.00 and asked me if I wanted to buy it. I felt sad when this happened.

   I was surprised that they opened the doors at 6 p.m. Jenny didn’t arrive until about an hour later. We looked at the souvenir area. She saw a nice shirt but it didn’t come in women’s sizes. I got the tour book which was thick for the $30.00 price. Jenny and I looked through it before the concert. I saw a shot of them on the “Today” show.

   The two girls sitting next to me had been talking about Tony Orlando; one had been to his concert there. I told her that I like his song “Knock Three Times”.

   Jenny mentioned that her friend had ordered 2 tickets to the Camden show and asked her to go with her. She wants to but it is on the day of her husband’s birthday. She is going to try to go though. I hope that she is able to so we can meet up at yet another DD event.

   Those tickets are in row D which is 2 ahead of mine. I am a little jealous. Of course, with the pit area, this will make us further back. I can’t remember how big that area was from when I was there for the 2 Luke Bryan and the Tim McGraw shows. Maybe about 5 rows.

   I wonder which section these are in- probably to the left which is where I wish that I could be. I bet that my seat is all the way over to the right of that middle section.

   I told her that I was looking into getting a ticket on Stub Hub. I was afraid to tell her that I actually got one during the presale. I didn’t want her possibly being mad at me for keeping this from her.

   I should be including details of the concert but I don’t remember that much about it, unfortunately. I wish that I had not danced around during it. I had told myself beforehand not to do this and to just focus on the performance. I see doing both as multi-tasking, something that my brain is not good at. I hate that I wasn’t able to listen to my smart side.

   I have this general memory that I had a pretty good time despite our crappy seats.  Was I thinking about how shitty they were during the show? Maybe a few times. I definitely was beforehand and am now.

   They did 15 songs, I think. It was only about a 95 minute show. I didn’t care for John’s outfit. I can’t recall what Simon was wearing- I think that ugly, scary mouth t-shirt. I didn’t really look much at Roger and Nick which I feel a bit bad about.

 

 

John Taylor and Dom Brown

 

March 11, 2016- Wrangler Day- Part 1

I almost didn’t go into the city to see Wrangler on his last day at the “Today” show yesterday. He will now be starting his formal training as an assistance/guide dog.

    I kept coming up with reasons not to do so- my head hurt, driving and social anxieties, not wanting to deal with the noise and crowds, feeling ugly and like too much of a loser to be out in public, and the thought that “It’s just a dog- I don’t really need to see him” (that is what my brother says even though he likes Wrangler too.)

   My desire to take a mini-break from my family managed to overpower all of this which was pretty surprising to me.

   I only wish that this had happened sooner. I was up by 4:15 and settled into my normal early morning routine of watching TV while eating my breakfast. It was after doing this that I quickly got ready for my adventure. I didn’t even brush my teeth or wash my face.

   I arrived at the Plaza by about 6:55. There was already a good sized crowd there so I wasn’t able to get close to the area where the hosts briefly do the show 2 times during the 8:00 hour. It was disappointing that I would not get to be close to Wrangler.

   Carson did bring him swiftly around the whole Plaza area for a victory lap so I got to see him a bit then. Only a couple of my photos of this adorable pooch came out good. One was from a distance; the zoom on my camera isn’t that good. My 3 shots of Roker came out better. I would rather have more great shots of Wrangler!

   An employee was handing out standby tickets for the “Meredith Vieira Show”. I don’t usually watch that but I liked her when she was on the “Today” show. I was lucky enough to get one. This was after I had moved up closer to the broadcast area.

   Sally, the girl who had been standing next to me earlier but was now in a different spot, had also gotten one. I met up with her again as I was walking to 30 Rock. We hung out together then. I hadn’t really said much to her before this.

   We were not able to get into the first taping but were told to come back and try for the second one. Sally wanted to go to the Disney store so I showed her where it is. We went to the bagel place that she said was voted the best in the city afterwards. I got one to take home since I had brought my lunch with me.

   I am fairly certain that Sally is from Ohio and is originally from upstate NY, somewhere near Albany. I hate that I have such a craptastic memory. She has an English Springer spaniel named Lucy. I told her that I love spaniels and used to have a cocker named Buffy Willow.

   Often I feel some sadness when seeing doggies because this makes me think of her and how she would have been in our lives longer if only we had taken better care of her and had gotten a second opinion about that damn steroid allergy med. She wouldn’t have had 12-15 months of such suffering also.

   I told Sally that I like country music. She said that she enjoys some of it too, including Rascal Flatts. I think that she also mentioned that her daughter used one of their songs at her wedding reception.

Wrangler

Al Roker