My Thoughts on various issues and your thoughts as well.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
From Here To IMUS
On December 2, 2007 I traveled to New York City to attend the 1st broadcast of the new IMUS IN THE MORNING radio program live from Town Hall Theater in Mid-Town Manhattan. Here is how it went:
I arrived at Laguardia Sun. afternoon & had made advance arrangements for transportation to my hotel in the Bronx. Yes, I know- I made the hotel arrangements based on price. Upon arrival I phoned the car service only to be told I had a 90 min. wait "because of the snow storm". So I grabbed a taxi. Hodgie my driver needed to call the hotel for directions after driving 40 minutes in the wrong direction. My 10 mile taxi trip took almost 90 minutes. HA!
My hotel (H.J. Express) was located underneath a train track, hard by the expressway (now I get the express part) next to an abandoned building. NICE! The desk clerk suggested I stay in and order pizza rather than try and walk to a restaurant for fear I might get mugged. As I fearlessly wandered around in the rain foraging for edibles and trying hard not to get mugged all I could find was a McDonald's-I've not been to one since my 13 year old son was young enough to be fascinated with the "Play Palace"? The food was worse than I remembered.
Back to the room-30 min. nap-its 9:00 Sun. night, I'm wide awake. I walk to the corner dough-nut shop, ( 2-day old glazed) NICE, off to the train station for directions to Town Hall. I decided what with the rain & ice I should skip the car service & brave the train so I arrive on time for the Monday Morning Resurrection. Its the # 2 train I'll be looking for in a.m.
Toss-turn, here comes the train AGAIN. Siren, moron downstairs in lobby screaming incoherently, call home to report I haven't been mugged yet, TV on-TV off, toss turn-its 2:00 am, no sleep for me. I'm up & in the shower, dressed, checking out at 2:45 a.m. Desk clerk asks where the hell I am going, says "you should take the center car so you don't get stabbed," NICE...
At the ticket office I ask about the # 2 train, tell the gal I'm not from here-I'm not making this up-her coworker asks if I'm from Poland, Ha!! Seems he was admiring my Greek fisherman's hat which according to him was guaranteed to get me robbed while on the train. SO-I changed hats and headed for the platform where I met Maurice-a black man on his way to work as a substance abuse counselor who got me to Manhattan in 1 piece.
3:30 a.m. Times Square is empty & looks so cool! I can still see it in my minds eye: me still trying not to get mugged, piles of trash, cops, an occasional pedestrian. McDonalds again for coffee, I'm at Town Hall by 4:00.
Its me, 2 cops & 1 TV reporter. I walk into the theater at the stage door, Levon Helm & the band are doing sound checks, this is too cool! Shortly I'm asked to wait out front.
More cops are arriving by the minute which as you know is good for me as I'm still trying hard not to get mugged. Mike who I assume is with WABC comes out front & we talk. Nice guy. Cops set up a fence, I'm in the front of the line as others begin to arrive. Lots of security guys from Bo Dietel & Asso. The cops don't know who Bo Dietel is-funny. 5:00-the huge personal bodyguard with the Van Dyke walks out-black limo pulls up, IMUS is in the building with Deirdre who is sporting a fashionable new hairdo.
I'm interviewed by 2 television reporters and a newspaper reporter who are impressed (ah-hem-maybe think I'm an unbalanced stalker) that I made the trip from St. Louis. I meet other IITM junkies,-5:20 Charles walks right up next to me trying to make his way into the building. 5:30 doors open, I'm the 1st one in the theater, take an isle seat, row 5.
Bernie is running about, Charles is in his seat, Levon & the band are waiting, Charles opens with the news, IMUS makes his entrance, the crowd starts applauding, He looks confident, humble and happy.
I heard the same talk you all did about the Rutgers debacle and think that after weeks of speculation on how Don would handle it-he did so masterfully. "Things pretty much ended they way they should have." "I already lost my job, I was trying to save my life." Not much left for the haters to b#$%* about after those opening remarks, huh?
I'd go to see IMUS do a show off of the back of a truck in Idaho so I can't say anything bad about the resurrection. Town Hall was a great theater, the crowd was wonderful, Levon was outstanding with his heart wrenching rendition of "Annalee".
Onto the train, the M60 bus, the plane, back to STL, 4:30 p.m. still no sleep but to the amazement of many I didn't get mugged..HA!
On December 2, 2007 I traveled to New York City to attend the 1st broadcast of the new IMUS IN THE MORNING radio program live from Town Hall Theater in Mid-Town Manhattan. Here is how it went:
I arrived at Laguardia Sun. afternoon & had made advance arrangements for transportation to my hotel in the Bronx. Yes, I know- I made the hotel arrangements based on price. Upon arrival I phoned the car service only to be told I had a 90 min. wait "because of the snow storm". So I grabbed a taxi. Hodgie my driver needed to call the hotel for directions after driving 40 minutes in the wrong direction. My 10 mile taxi trip took almost 90 minutes. HA!
My hotel (H.J. Express) was located underneath a train track, hard by the expressway (now I get the express part) next to an abandoned building. NICE! The desk clerk suggested I stay in and order pizza rather than try and walk to a restaurant for fear I might get mugged. As I fearlessly wandered around in the rain foraging for edibles and trying hard not to get mugged all I could find was a McDonald's-I've not been to one since my 13 year old son was young enough to be fascinated with the "Play Palace"? The food was worse than I remembered.
Back to the room-30 min. nap-its 9:00 Sun. night, I'm wide awake. I walk to the corner dough-nut shop, ( 2-day old glazed) NICE, off to the train station for directions to Town Hall. I decided what with the rain & ice I should skip the car service & brave the train so I arrive on time for the Monday Morning Resurrection. Its the # 2 train I'll be looking for in a.m.
Toss-turn, here comes the train AGAIN. Siren, moron downstairs in lobby screaming incoherently, call home to report I haven't been mugged yet, TV on-TV off, toss turn-its 2:00 am, no sleep for me. I'm up & in the shower, dressed, checking out at 2:45 a.m. Desk clerk asks where the hell I am going, says "you should take the center car so you don't get stabbed," NICE...
At the ticket office I ask about the # 2 train, tell the gal I'm not from here-I'm not making this up-her coworker asks if I'm from Poland, Ha!! Seems he was admiring my Greek fisherman's hat which according to him was guaranteed to get me robbed while on the train. SO-I changed hats and headed for the platform where I met Maurice-a black man on his way to work as a substance abuse counselor who got me to Manhattan in 1 piece.
3:30 a.m. Times Square is empty & looks so cool! I can still see it in my minds eye: me still trying not to get mugged, piles of trash, cops, an occasional pedestrian. McDonalds again for coffee, I'm at Town Hall by 4:00.
Its me, 2 cops & 1 TV reporter. I walk into the theater at the stage door, Levon Helm & the band are doing sound checks, this is too cool! Shortly I'm asked to wait out front.
More cops are arriving by the minute which as you know is good for me as I'm still trying hard not to get mugged. Mike who I assume is with WABC comes out front & we talk. Nice guy. Cops set up a fence, I'm in the front of the line as others begin to arrive. Lots of security guys from Bo Dietel & Asso. The cops don't know who Bo Dietel is-funny. 5:00-the huge personal bodyguard with the Van Dyke walks out-black limo pulls up, IMUS is in the building with Deirdre who is sporting a fashionable new hairdo.
I'm interviewed by 2 television reporters and a newspaper reporter who are impressed (ah-hem-maybe think I'm an unbalanced stalker) that I made the trip from St. Louis. I meet other IITM junkies,-5:20 Charles walks right up next to me trying to make his way into the building. 5:30 doors open, I'm the 1st one in the theater, take an isle seat, row 5.
Bernie is running about, Charles is in his seat, Levon & the band are waiting, Charles opens with the news, IMUS makes his entrance, the crowd starts applauding, He looks confident, humble and happy.
I heard the same talk you all did about the Rutgers debacle and think that after weeks of speculation on how Don would handle it-he did so masterfully. "Things pretty much ended they way they should have." "I already lost my job, I was trying to save my life."
Not much left for the haters to b#$%* about after those opening remarks, huh?
I'd go to see IMUS do a show off of the back of a truck in Idaho so I can't say anything bad about the resurrection. Town Hall was a great theater, the crowd was wonderful, Levon was outstanding with his heart wrenching rendition of "Annalee".
Onto the train, the M60 bus, the plane, back to STL, 4:30 p.m. still no sleep but to the amazement of many I didn't get mugged..HA!