A co-worker pointed out the other day that I get a little hyped up about the various things I'm interested in. Mark always says I completely immerse myself in those subjects when my interest flares up. Both admittedly are true. Some are fleeting, some can spring up at any moment. Robert Redford has always been the latter -- and not just because I have a cat named Brubaker who sleeps on my chest.
He's an inspiration, not just as an actor and not just as a director, but as a person. Although he's an artist in the public eye, he's done so much with that fame beyond lining his pockets. He created something from nothing with Sundance, nurturing other creative forces who might not have gotten a voice through the Hollywood system. He's always been concerned with the environment as well, and even at age 79, he goes the extra mile on that front. More on that later.
So it was with great excitement that I went to my first event as a card-carrying member of the Paley Center. "An Evening with Robert Redford" -- the proverbial dream come true.
Now it's impossible to capture the life and times of Robert Redford in a 90-minute session, but I enjoyed every single moment. The session, moderated by Pat Mitchell, began with discussion of how the artist became an actor sort of by accident. Redford said he was going to school for art and when he expressed interest in becoming an art director, he was told he should take some classes in acting. I don't quite see that connection, but it certainly worked out for the entertainment industry.
So even when he was doing his early television work, he wasn't quite certain that it was what he wanted to do with his life. Much of his early work is available in the Paley Center archives, and we got a quick peek at the likes of Playhouse 90 ("In the Presence of Thine Enemies"); Perry Mason ("The Case of the Treacherous Toupee");
The Untouchables ("The Snowball"); The Virginian ("The Evil That Men Do"); The Dick Powell Theatre ("The Last of the Big Spenders"); Bus Stop ("The Covering Darkness)" and Alcoa Premiere ("The Voice of Charlie Pont)." And, of course, two of his better-known early efforts, The Twilight Zone ("Nothing in the Dark") and Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("The Right Kind of Medicine").
With the lights down, you could almost feel Redford shifting uncomfortably in his seat as we watched the clip reel. But he was happy not to have a clip from the Merv Griffin show, Play Your Hunch, which he detested being a part of -- and didn't even get paid in real money for appearing on. But as he explained, television did teach him a lot about the craft and the industry from the wide array of talent in front of and behind the camera. He recounted a very poignant story about Lee J. Cobb from The Virginian. After a heart attack, the veteran actor told Redford he appreciated his efforts, but not to work so hard in trying to make a connection happen on screen, because he was worn down and out.
Even after becoming a hot property in the industry on television and three subsequent movies, Redford wasn't sure he wanted to make acting his career. Art was still foremost in his mind, and he took a year off and went to Europe. There he sketched people living their lives, and on the other side of the page, he would imagine what discussions might have been going on in front of him. His powers of observation eventually led to something that did connect his talent for acting with his predilection for art -- directing.
Along the way he was making invaluable and treasured friendships, like with Natalie Wood, whom he co-starred with in two of his first three big pictures. And Paul Newman, who went to the mat to get him in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We got to hear the now-infamous tale of escalating pranks between Redford and Newman. If you don't know the story, Redford introduced Newman to racing and got so tired of the latter's obsession with it that he had a junked sports car wrapped up in a bow and delivered to Newman's house. Newman never made mention of it, but sometime later, Redford found a huge box in his hallway filled with the pieces of that junked car. But that wasn't the end of the tale, because Redford had those pieces melted down and made into a "bad" sculpture that he left in Newman's garden. The pair never made mention of it privately.
Redford's interest in Watergate led to the making of All the President's Men, which Redford thought would be a landmark moment in the field of journalism. Which it was, but as he said, media's credibility dropped off precipitously not too long after that. This led to discussion of his latest work, Truth with Cate Blanchett, which professes to tell the story of Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes' battles against CBS in regards to then-President George Bush's military service and eventually led to the anchor's departure. It was a little jarring to see Redford as Rather, particularly since some of the clips we saw were interviews Rather conducted with Redford on environmental concerns.
There was limited time to talk about how Redford built Sundance in Utah, starting as an institute that gave burgeoning talents time and space to work on their craft. That evolved into the Sundance Film Festival, a cable channel and more options than the industry would have ever created on its own. But we did get to see his eyes light up at the introduction of his wife, artist Sibylle Szaggars.
And it would be right back to business for Redford, who was flying to Paris the next day to take part in the Climate Summit on behalf of the National Resources Defense Council. Because, like I said, he's not just an artistic inspiration, he's a man who makes you rethink your own aspirations as a human being in this world.
The Supernatural convention at the Meadowlands Exposition Center the last weekend of September seemed a lot like being back in public school. The main hall was akin to being in a school assembly, sitting on folding chairs with the guests holding microphones on an elevated stage. The professional photo ops reminded me of lining up for class photos in front of a backdrop. And the food was served in a makeshift cafeteria, only missing the tables where we could sit down to eat.
The main draw were the panels for the popular kids -- Most Likely to Succeed (Jensen Ackles), Best Athlete (Jared Padalecki), Class Clown (I was gonna say Misha Collins, but then there's Mark Sheppard. Either way, we were very much looking forward to seeing both of them.) Jensen and Jared, who play Sam and Dean Winchester, were scheduled to be there on our second day; Misha and Mark, the show's angel and the demon respectively, took the stage on the first (and actually Mark did again on Day 2).
A little back story on the Schector sisters when it comes to Castiel and Crowley. We maintain that the show is about the angel and the demon, not the Winchester boys. They just happen to be there, get into various scrapes -- sometimes caused by demon/angel, sometimes resolved by them. We had shirts made about a year ago, mine says "Team Crowley" on front and "Team Castiel" on the back in the Supernatural typeface. Lor's says "Team Castiel" on front and "Team Crowley" on back.
Most of the panels had two or three members of the cast playing off of each other. The first one of the day was Ruth Connell (Rowena), Osric Chau (Kevin Chan) and Gil McKinney (Henry Winchester). Although Season 10 of the show got to be kind of a drag with predictable dialogue uttered by Crowley's mother, Rowena, we found Ruth to be the exact opposite. She was charming and sweet, offering shortbread to fans who asked questions during the Q&A. When asked what they'd write for their characters if given the chance, Ruth came up with a delightfully raunchy answer of having them chained in her basement to give her massages and other services. And then they kind of acted it out a little with Osric cosplaying Sam, it got weird. In a fun way.
The second panel was Tahmoh Penikett, who played Gadreel. We also recall him fondly from Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. He was such a gamer too, particularly since he had just arrived. He hadn't even gotten to change his clothes after taking a red-eye flight in from another working gig for the event. Sis went off to do a photo op with him when it ended, and had an unexpected (but fun) encounter with Misha Collins. Wish everyone could have seen her face when she tried to find me afterward to share the tale.
So Misha had came into the room while she was waiting to take her picture with Tahmoh. By the time she finished, Misha was just a few feet away, so she went over to him and actually flashed her "Team Castiel" shirt at him! He chuckled approvingly, then she showed the back and he laughed. She told him her sister had the reverse and we would see them at the duo's photo op. Flashing Castiel, priceless.
What we learned throughout the day, no matter whose session was underway, that everyone loves the character of Castiel, but if they got to play a part on the show, they'd want to be Crowley. Worked for us.
Mark's first panel was a lot of fun. I had heard about how he kind of gets into character and comes down off the stage to wander up around the audience while doing Q&A. He does not suffer fools lightly either. Any question he doesn't like was, at best, dismissed, and at worst, well, there was a lot of at worst. But he was very sweet with the kids and one overwhelmed fan who started crying when it was her turn to speak to him.
He dissed fans dressed as Castiel, saying their costumes looked more like Constantine, and paused before gently knocking over a life-sized standup of Castiel that one fan had brought to the event. He also made side comments to people he passed by during his walkabouts.
That was followed by our photo op with Mark and Misha. We had planned this one out for a while, what we'd say, what we'd do. We decided to go with hugs, a wise choice. Mark said, "I like your shirt." Then I showed him the "Team Castiel" back and he added, "I don't like that one." But at least Lor got a thumbs-up from him when she showed him the "Team Crowley" back of hers. Misha, ever sensible, admired them both.
And in the afternoon, we had a Misha panel. That got funny very quickly. He asked the first fan, "How are you?" and she responded with her age. That led to a running "how old are you" joke for the rest of the session. Another fan told Misha she had written a song for him. He looked a little wary, but she belted out an amazing tune that he loved and the audience whole-heartedly approved of."
Convention host Rob Benedict (Carver Edlund) and Matt Cohen (Young John Winchester) did the late afternoon session, and Mark showed up asking "Where's Rich?" in his patented American accent. In fact, it's such a good variation that many of the fans didn't seem to know it was the Englishman at all. By the way, his question was about Richard Speight Jr. (Gabriel/The Trickster), who was supposed to be the third man in the session, but had to cancel because he was directing the show's next episode and preparing production for it.
Our last event the first day was getting Misha's autograph. But since we didn't have Gold or Silver Seats (entitling us to autographs from everyone), our group was never called. When I saw people randomly getting on the line, and making it longer and longer, I went up to the stage to inquire about it with the person running the show. She said, "It's really long, but if you want to stand there, go right ahead." And then a lot of other people who seemed to have the same issue followed us, so it probably was a good idea to get on it before it doubled in size. I asked Misha how he was holding up and something about how he just keeps going and going with smiles and hellos for everyone. Lor added that he doesn't even get a break. And he sighed, "You're right," but probably was still giving smiles long after we departed.
Sunday's event was shorter for us, because the Gold Seaters got an exclusive panel with co-stars Jensen and Jared. Then there was a panel with Erica Carroll (Hannah), which was most notable for another sneak appearance by Misha. He really can work the crowd into a frenzy and get people milling about outside to run in quickly.
Then it was time for the so-called main attraction -- Jared and Jensen's panel for everyone. We all had glow sticks that have become a show of support for Jared, he really seemed touch to see them seemingly being waved by everyone in attendance at the same time.
They showed the camaraderie that is such a big part of the show has extended off the screen as well, making jokes at each others' expense and laughing about different things that have befallen the Winchesters. Every time Jensen had what he deemed to be a good response to a question, he would utter "I got this," while Jared seems to have taken his character's penchant for saying "So here's the thing" when delivering exposition on the show to heart.
Mark's second panel of the event was shorter, but still a lot of fun. And although I already would have been considered a fan of his for life, he endeared himself to me even further by mentioning my favorite television director, the late Kim Manners, during the session. Over the weekend, he also shared some big news with us -- he and his fiancee are expecting a baby and he had just become an American citizen.
If something at the convention could be considered a downer, it's probably the fact that EVERYONE is there to see the same people, so there's no time for personalizing autographs or making connections. The next day when I met Mark again, there were four things I wanted to get in during the brief conversation -- a thank-you for mentioning Kim, that I first became a big fan of his when he was on Medium, and congratulations on the baby and his naturalization. While we awaited my turn, Lor kept quizzing me so I wouldn't forget when I got up there, all nervous and excited. It became known as "KimMediumBabyCitizen."
And I did it too, while adding a clutch autograph to The X-Files yearbook collection -- he was in the first season episode, "Fire." By Sis' tally, I got "two big smiles and a chuckle" out of it. Here's the way I remember it: Me: "Thanks for mentioning Kim Manners, he was my favorite TV director." Mark: "Mine too." Me: "I've been a big fan since Medium." Mark: "Thanks." Me: "Congrats on the baby and becoming an American ... citizen." That's when the chuckle came into play, I kind of stumbled over that last part. But not bad for 10 seconds.
As the drawback is more a statement of fact than a complaint, it's easy to grade the convention on a curve and give it an easy "A," natch. Or Supernatch.
I've been a diehard fan of The X-Files since the show's original run. And I've told the story quite a few times of how I got to the X-Files Expo late in 1998. Missed most of the day's action, but I did get to meet Nicholas Lea, who played Krycek, and he basically saved the whole day for me by being the nicest person and the complete antithesis of his cold-blooded character.
But there wasn't a chance to get photographs with the actors, so for years I've pondered the guest lists of conventions hoping that my path would cross with Nick's again. And then the early list for Dragon Con in Atlanta came out. My sister had wanted me to go to that con to experience the incredible event that is massively spread out over four hotels. With Nick scheduled to be there (and more recent favorite John Barrowman of Torchwood also announced), the die was pretty much cast.
Now early September isn't really the best time of the year for me to be out and about on weekends, in fact, it's kind of diametrically opposed to that since it's the toughest time of my work season. But I figured if I'm walking around like a human zombie, I'll just look like a lot of other people who paid money to dress in costumes and do the same.
It was wild using walkways to get from hotel to hotel, with throngs of people needing to be somewhere that they were not. (I believe the projected total for the entire event was 70,000 peeps.) But everyone seemed to handle themselves respectfully and as a really huge mutual admiration society, even my T-shirts got pointed out on occasion. We all just got along, whether it was during the convention hours or later on, when everyone was imbibing and enjoy the weekend.
Both Sis and I had to decided to do pro-shot photo ops with John Barrowman. This man is the perfect person to do the convention circuit. And he's perfect because he GETS it, because he's an "ultimate fanboy" himself. Before his photo op, he stopped to work his crowd into a frenzy (not really necessary, we were kind of there already).
"You're all HERE!" he yelled as he perused aisle upon aisle of attendees -- some dressed up, like Lor as Gwen Cooper from Torchwood, and others like me, not. Apparently there weren't a lot of people at his autograph signing, maybe because we were queueing up for the photo. (To be fair, it was a little misleading about the circumstances of that signing and more of us would have been there had we known it would have been such a breeze.)
John gave us a brief rundown of the "rules," basically there wasn't a lot he wouldn't do in the shoot, just nothing that would harm him physically. I was kind of concerned about that myself, for although I wanted one of his trademark bear hugs, I had fallen down the stairs a couple weeks before and was still pretty banged up and achy. So I resolved to ask for a "soft hug." And damn if he didn't do it perfectly, you can't tell it from the finished product, but I'm very gently cradled in his big ol' arms. I could feel my heart pounding against his chest.
Even after the lines has been through, John hung around to keep Sis and the others laughing, but I had gone across the street to wait on the X-Files panel line. Although Nick and Jerry basically told stories I had read before, it was just fun to hear them talk about their experiences in person. I'd heard Nick's fan letter story about a child asking show heroes Mulder and Scully to help with evil in Ireland, but not the Jerry tale linked above.
Nick was asked whether he got called by Chris Carter to be in the XF revival that will start airing on Fox in January. He said the executive producer hadn't called him about being on the show. Ever the intrepid reporter, I followed with "Did anyone else from the show call you?"
I was definitely not a zombie when it came to meeting Nick in the autograph room. I even did most of the talking. First I told him about how he salvaged my day, then it was the story of the XF episode SR 819, in which my friend and I were calling each other during commercial breaks because we figured out the episode plot twist involving him. He listened most attentively and even seemed interested in the ravings of the loony fan (me).
Now at conventions, traditionally you get one autograph and one photo with each person. I got more of both. I picked out a photo, and off the cuff, Nick wrote "We'll always have Miami!" (referring to that almost ill-fated Expo) with a heart before signing his name. Then he signed the XF yearbook on the "SR 819" page, adding that he almost brought his 8x10s of Krycek in the episode's trademark Jesus wig, but he wasn't sure people would be into it. I told him I definitely would have picked that one if he had. Anyway, he signed the book and then started blowing on the signature to make sure it dried quickly.
And finally it was time for the picture I had been waiting for. And although if you wait for something for that long, there's always that chance you're going to be disappointed with the result, it couldn't have been further from the truth. He wrapped me up in a big hug, I even forgot that I was supposed to be worried about my bruised bones.
Then I went to meet Jerry, who played Deep Throat on the show and returned several times after, despite the fact that his character died at the climax of the first season. I also know him really well from the WKRP in Cincinnati episode "Fish Story," in which he plays an officer administering a drunk driving test to Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap. The character actor didn't really remember the ep (after all it WAS from 1979 and he has done a considerable amount of work since then.)
He also gave me the "bonus" autograph, signing the XF yearbook and an 8x10, much to his handler's chagrin. In the handler's defense, he did know the WKRP episode I earlier referred to. Speaking of bonuses, in our great candid shot, you can see John Wesley Shipp AND Barry Bostwick behind us at their tables.
Later when Lor went to get her picture with Barry, he asked my name and shook my hand, even though I wasn't forking over any money for the privilege. We laughed about the jockey shorts he was autographing for fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Planning way ahead, I arranged my professional photo op with Nick to be on Saturday, hoping I would look a little less piqued on the second day of the event and with a long day of work in the rearview mirror. Although I treasure the picture I got, I think Lor did much better by both of us doing the candid shots a day earlier. But, I did get the added bonus of getting a "hi" wave of recognition when he came in and an extra hug before the picture, to the apparent disapproval of other fans around who didn't get that.
The convention scheduler wasn't on my side that day, because Jerry's solo panel was starting in another hotel when Nick's photo op began, but I got across to that fairly quickly. There was a great slide show of the character actor's work, everything from The Firm to Star Trek: The Next Generation. There was a lengthy XF segment, but no WKRP. One avid fan even mentioned an appearance on the TV version of Starman and I vowed to see that as soon as possible. On TNG, he portrayed Mark Twain and that set him off on a course in which he performed a program completely comprised of Twain material. He mesmerized the entire audience by recalling an entire passage by Twain off the cuff, in performance mode except for costume.
Although I watched only one episode of the show Continuum that Nick was on, I still went to the cast panel for the show and was duly entertained. Nick told us he got involved because show creator Simon Barry was a friend of his, but his character was killed off after eight episodes. He had a quick retort to the statement that no one ever really dies in sci-fi: "I keep hearing this stuff. I'm here to tell you it's not true. I'm starting to take it personally."
I was pretty wiped from just working my way through the crowds and from building to building -- remember I said at the start that I was at my lowest energy point of the year -- but all due props to Sis, who was completely in the spirit of things. She changed costumes two or three times a day. She did Stonecutters' singing duty, she was Gwen Cooper in the Barrowman photo shoot, she battled an unwieldly wig and was Magenta from Rocky Horror, there was some kind of Arrow thing going on, and impressed the hell out of her weary sister.
But as for me, like I said when I was winging my way back home to go back to work, "It's been fun Dragon Con, but I think we should see other people."
I've flown to Las Vegas (with a side bus trip to Phoenix) to see Pearl Jam. Sojourns to Brooklyn and Flushing for shows often take longer than a flight to Florida. So when artists appear right down the block from me in New Brunswick, New Jersey, it's definitely cause for celebration.
It happened twice for me over an October fortnight. First there was Chris Cornell. When I first saw Cornell fronting the seminal "grunge" band back in their '90s heyday, it was an appropriately percussive and sweaty event in New York City's brick Armory. At the State Theater, it was a much more intimate event, but Cornell's voice was no less than resonant -- even two decades on down the timeline.
He endeared himself to the audience by saying that he always enjoys performing in New Jersey -- the "no bullshit state," as he called it -- because the fans make him earn every bit of applause that he gets before them. On this particular night, it was all well earned, 28 songs (including one that definitely wasn't planned.)
Chris covered a wide array of his material spanning his own solo work (latest single "Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart" and love song to his wife "Josephine" were simply gorgeous), Soundgarden ("Fell on Black Days," "Black Hole Sun," "Rusty Cage"), his other band Audioslave ("Doesn't Remind Me," "Like a Stone"), nods to his Seattle supergroup Temple of the Dog ("All Night Long," "Hunger Strike," "Wooden Jesus") and those people he was inspired by (Led Zeppelin's "Thank You" and Bob Dylan).
For the latter, he worked what might be thought of as an untouchable classic into the heartfelt "The Times They Are A-Changin' Back." Later, he credited Neil Young coming up with the idea of a harmonica holder that can double as a microphone. "Being the first guy who steals an idea is almost as good as being the guy who invented it," he quipped. He also gave a special shoutout to Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready, further endearing himself to me, calling him one of the best human beings he's ever met in his life.
Those songs not just played by Chris on acoustic guitar featured Bryan Gibson, who was to up the sometimes daunting task of keeping pace on the cello (and for a bit on the mandolin).
I started wondering whether Chris might be some kind of alien being. I didn't see him sip anything during the two-plus hours. I get parched just listening to him reach the upper stratosphere with his notes.
Then again, he might just be a sponge. Because he can cover the likes of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody," Sinead O'Connor's Prince song "Nothing Compares 2 U," while finding a way to rework his own classics at well. Kind of gave me flashbacks to the era when I was also a sponge, musically speaking, and just open to every variable. On songs such as "Seasons," featured in buddy Cameron Crowe's film Singles, it really was a sensory experience, bringing me back to times and places I haven't thought about in at least a decade.
He told great stories too, like how happy he was to be included on the same list as Paul McCartney -- besides for bad '70s hair -- when he did the James Bond theme "You Know My Name" from Casino Royale. And lest the show seem too structured, he did listen to the audience on occasion. "We don't have a song called 'All Day Long,'" he chided. But then promptly improvised a serviceable ditty to an appreciative audience.
Then the second show was Ringo Starr and His All-Star Band. It's a great concept, and a fun one. Ringo basically brings a whole bunch of talented people out on the road with him. They take turns playing their biggest hits, and seem to enjoy playing on each others' as well. This particular incarnation featured Todd Rundgren (always a blast and eye-catching in some kind of wacky bodysuit thing), Steve Lukather (Toto), Richard Page (Mr. Mister) and Gregg Rolie (Santana).
It was like a super-cool jukebox cranking out great and catchy hits. With Rundgren, it was "Bang the Drum All Day," "I Saw the Light" and "Love Is the Answer," the latter of which Ringo called one of his favorite love songs. Lukather tried to stoke the audience with "Rosanna," "Africa" and "Hold the Line" -- it worked with the people in the orchestra, not so much for the balcony (save me, of course).
Page sounded every bit the vocalist he did three decades ago on classics "Broken Wings" and "Kyrie" as well as the newer tune "You Are Mine." And Rolie kept things grooving with "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" and "Oye Como Va."
When Ringo stepped off for "Black Magic Woman," the rest of the band got downright silly. They were roughhousing in pairs of two, still being masterful on their respective instruments, but just having a good ol' time with it all. I've seen some video of other shows on this tour, and unless the camera missed it, they seemed to be funning more than normal at our show.
In fact, they've been enjoying each others' company so much that they even wrote the song "Island in the Sun" while touring. According to Ringo, our show was the first time they played it publicly. "I'm gonna keep on searchin' for that island in the sun" say the lyrics. It might be on the nose, but they've apparently found just that in their All-Star Band.
Throughout the night, the rest of the band kept referring to Ringo as "The Boss," pretty funny considering a photo from backstage later emerged with the OTHER "Boss," Jersey's own Springsteen. Ringo was trademark Ringo -- complete with peace signs and self-effacing jokes throughout the night. The funniest one was about how the former Beatle couldn't reach the notes that Richard Page does in his songs without being kicked in the privates.
With all the high-powered talent in front of him, there was still someone stealing everyone's thunder in the back row. No, it wasn't Ringo. He was a gamer, but the show MVP had to be Mark Rivera, who deftly handled everyone's percussion, saxophone (on the likes of Ringo's "Photograph" and Steve's "Rosanna"), keyboard, backup guitar and backing vocal needs.
But when it comes right down to it, and the members of the band said this repeatedly during the show, seeing a Beatle on the stage makes all the difference. In addition to others, I've mentioned, we got to enjoy "Matchbox," "You're Sixteen," "Yellow Submarine" and the song John Lennon wrote for him, "I Am the Greatest." And of course, the song that encapsulates the night and performers with pinpoint accuracy -- "With A Little Help from My Friends/Give Peace a Chance."
In the end, what more can I say? The Brit invaded!
Note: Since video wasn't plentiful in remotely good quality from either show, I topped the reviews with the best available and then used other shows for songs I wanted to spotlight.
In Back to the Future, Marty McFly journeyed from the '80s to 2015. But on Oct. 24, I went back to the past -- the '90s to be specific.
The first event was the inaugural Entertainment Weekly Fest, which I had just found out about a couple days earlier, thanks to a tweet sent by a friend I had met just a couple weeks earlier at the New York Comic Con X-Files Meetup. And this was a doozy too.
She said X-Files creator/executive producer/director Chris Carter would be doing a panel at EW Fest. But what she didn't know was that Darin Morgan, my favorite writer from the show, also would be on hand. And that news about sent me to another planet, because he was someone I've always wanted to see/meet very badly.
So I trekked in to the Industria Superstudio in Manhattan to enjoy the event with a growing circle of friends I've made in recent weeks on The X-Files front. I saw a screening of the Halloween episode of You're the Worst first, and that was entertaining enough, but all I could really think about was the XF panel.
After standing crookedly and rather uncomfortably on a slanted ramp for the better part of an hour, we were allowed in to the panel room. I sat with my friends, Rachel, who bemoans the fact that the show didn't use a show bible to keep proper track of its facts and history, and Ana, who never did get a satisfactory answer to her question about why Mulder and Scully couldn't weather a few bumps in the road after all they had been through. Their reactions to particular moments in the panel made it even more fun.
When moderator Jeff Jensen introduced Chris and Darin, there was a third person in tow -- Glen Morgan, Darin's brother and another exceptional writer for the show. Frankly, I wouldn't have been happier with the actors from the show, because the writing aspect always has and continues to fascinate me. (And maybe because I just sat in on the acting panel a couple weeks before.)
Now for a couple days, I had prepared what I would say and how I would ask my question. And then Jeff Jensen stole my thunder, almost with my same exact wonders. He proclaimed Darin's episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" to not only be his favorite of the show's run, but also of television in general and then asked how he came up with such an intricate plot.
Anyway, Darin said all he initially had for the opening of his fourth and final episode from the series' initial run was the opening sequence in which two teenagers are abducted by two "aliens," who in turn are then menaced by a different species of alien. And when he pitched that idea, he was told never to bring it up again. Sure glad he did, though!
The title character of the episode, author Jose Chung (played so memorably by Charles Nelson Reilly) was fleshed out after Morgan saw actors auditioning for a previous episode of his, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose." As Darin explained, the actor reminded him of Truman Capote, and although he wasn't ultimately hired for the role, it did provide the impetus for turning Jose Chung into a quirky writer investing an alien abduction story.
For every story I had already heard at the panel, such as how the controversial episode "Home" stemmed from a story in a biography Glen read on Charlie Chaplin, there was one I didn't know, like how Glen and writing partner James Wong came up with their initial baddie Tooms while locked away in a "little box of an office" trying to find something to hang an episode on. They looked up at a small vent and wondered what would happen if someone came through it. Chris had been to France and was going on and on about "foie gras," and thus the idea that the man who could fit through small vents was searching for livers to harvest.
Speaking of "Home," Glen cracked up the room by admitting he called the episode he wrote for the revival "Home Again" merely to stir up fans on the internet. That scheme has definitely worked, by the way, as social media has gone wild expecting a sequel to the incestuous baddies' story.
Darin said playing the Fluke Man in an early episode gave him special insight into actors having to wear costumes when he later became a director and also said that The X-Files was the only show that was never besieged by network interference. He got to write scripts the way he wanted to, and that was the reason he was interested in coming back for the revival. He also revealed that his episode will be called "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster."
Glen added that, of all the shows he's ever worked on, XF is the only one he's come up with ideas after the run ended. And Chris said that once again, the time seems to be right with people very interested in the concept of conspiracies within the government.
When they "got the band back together," the panel participants and other show creative forces such as Frank Spotnitz, Vince Gilligan and Howard Gordon got together to discuss how they could make it work. The other three had current projects that precluded their involvement. "We're the only losers who didn't have anything else to do," Glen laughed.
I got my courage up to ask the second part of my original "Jose Chung" question (about the Detective Manners character and my favorite TV director Kim Manners), and Jeff Jensen actually signaled for me to ask the last question of the session, but new friend Roileigh (of X-Files News) got to and really stirred the crowd into another frenzy by asking about whether Mulder and Scully were married -- based on comments David Duchovny has been making in the media. Chris quickly put the kibosh on that idea.
EW Fest came up with the brilliant idea of "funneling" participants from the panel into a neighboring room for autographs, so we gleefully skipped off to wait on line. At that point, only Chris' name was listed for the session, but the brothers Morgan also joined in and I wasn't real sure I'd be able to stay vertical.
I got to Chris first and used part of my prepared speech, "Thank you for creating and nurturing my all-time favorite television show." And he genuinely thanked me, then called attention to the XF jacket I was wearing. It had indeed been popular that day, but acknowledgment from THE man almost stopped me in my tracks. Almost.
Instead of the series poster he was signing for everyone, I had him sign my "yearbook," which is a really nice keepsake after less than a year's worth of show-related autographs. And then I made way over to Glen Morgan, with my page for Darin already picked out. And then something really unexpected happened.
Glen just burst out laughing. I mean the kind of side-splitting laughter that probably would only emanate from one sibling making fun of another. He really was amused by the picture of Darin. That, of course, piqued the interest and attention of both Darin and Chris and they looked over at it as well. Darin probably hasn't frowned that much since he played Eddie Van Blundht in the XF episode "Small Potatoes." He was pretty unhappy with the picture, probably again because of the joy Glen was getting out of it.
I was definitely thrown off my game about that. After the laughter subsided and it was just me talking to Darin, I babbled something akin to "'Jose Chung' is my favorite episode of television ever. I want to be buried with a copy of it."
My spectacular friends combined to get pictures of me during all this, and it just goes to show what going to a sparsely attended meetup at a huge convention can ultimately do for you. I have people to talk XF with and they also look out for me.
We were at the very bottom of the ramp discussing our good fortune when Glen, Darin and Chris filed out before us. I said good-bye to them individually by name and got different reactions from each. Glen said "bye," Darin smiled brightly and Chris stopped for a second as though he was trying to place me from somewhere else.
Later, I was off to see Garbage, a band that I loved since the '90s but never actually got to see in person for the 20th anniversary of their first album, they've been doing a tour in which they only perform songs written in 1995-'96.
The thing that has always made the group special to me was the fact that a self-effacing woman with serious lungs -- Shirley Manson -- fronts some powerful musicians (including Nirvana producer Butch Vig). She takes the piss out of herself in her lyrics, but still comes off as empowering and inspiring. And the band tells the tale that they had heard many female singers who could scream out a tune, but no one even came near to doing what Shirley did.
With lyrics such as "This is not my idea of a good time" or "I'm only happy when it rains" or "When I grow up, I'll be stable," she always sang the truth while admitting that while situations might not be ideal, they could be handled and she'd come out stronger on the other side.
And actually still does. Sporting pink hair reminiscent of the color of that first release, Shirley's still a knockout singer who can hit all the notes and draw all the emotion out of every song. From start to finish, she still gallops around the stage and bends herself backward in ways that no one who has been doing this for 20 years should be able to do.
Whether it was hits such as "Stupid Girl," "Queer," "Milk," "I Think I'm Paranoid" or lesser-knowns such as "Butterfly Collector" or "Driving Lesson," the audience was enraptured. They didn't sit all night! (Well, OK, I admit I did. After walking around the city all day, I couldn't keep up. But I was still spellbound.
Shirley got emotional over being in the Brooklyn venue, the Kings Theater -- which reminded her of her first concert experience and how she dreamed of someday being up on the stage, the very place she was at that moment. How lucky were we to share that with her? Just like I'm able to share both these experiences with all of you now.
It's kinda fun going to Chiller on a Friday. If you go on a Saturday, the lines are just unbearable -- or at least a good amount of the throng is. And if you go on a Sunday, well, you risk the fact that your celebrity is tired of talking about the same thing over and over and over. So Mark and I have settled into the Friday groove, although the secret's definitely out that pre-show tickets are the way to do it.
And the early bird catches Veronica Cartwright! The movie and television veteran was ready to go at 6 p.m. sharp, with a table full of 8x10s and a binder containing more shots, in case a fan wanted something else.
Mark was agog at seeing Gus Grissom's wife from "The Right Stuff," and of course, she also was indelible in "Alien." But I talked with her about "The Witches of Eastwick," in which her character suffers humiliations galore at the hands of Jack Nicholson's little devil. Veronica said she had a great time working on that, which just goes to show that the more torturous the action may be on screen, the more fun the actor might be having off of it.
We also spent some time talking about her pivotal four-episode stint on "The X-Files." In half of them, she worked with my favorite TV director -- the late great Kim Manners. (He's happily become a discussion point between me and actors he had worked with, because they all love and miss him.)
She told me he would sit in the back of the room and project a call of "Action" that almost scared her. Even better, when show star Gillian Anderson got tired, she would often get giggly and Kim could be heard going "no, no, no, no!" in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the giggles.
During her first two-part appearance on the show, Veronica's character Cassandra Spender was abducted out of a wheelchair on a bridge full of people. She did the entire stunt, revealing that they actually shot it backwards, with her starting up at the highest point and being lowered down. And Gillian called to her "bend your knees" to reflect the fact that she was supposed to be unable to move them on her own.
No one else was at their tables yet, so we went to stand on Robby Benson's line and waited for the silver marker on Veronica's autograph in my X-Files yearbook to dry. And waited and waited and waited. But the time was well spent, I performed lines from "Ice Castles" for a woman standing behind us. The funniest one was blind Lexie reaching out and crying "Nick! Nick!" And when people started crossing in front of us to get to other parts of the room, I used that one a lot.
Can't really say much about Robby Benson, because he didn't say a lot, but he chuckled at the "Nick, Nick" recreation. One of my earliest crushes, he still looks great, but I kind of got the "move along vibe" before I could mention how much I loved "One on One" or that I just recently saw "Harry & Son" and "Die Laughing."
Had a hard time finding John James' table, because he had no banner and there was kind of bottleneck on that side of the room, but we eventually did. And he was as charming as Jeff Colby could have ever thought of being on "Dynasty."
We discussed how different the two Fallons on the show were, he said Emma Samms was just as sweet as can be, while Pamela Sue Martin was a spitfire. I recalled that a couple years ago, I met Pamela Sue at a table about 10 feet away from where he was sitting. He said she had tried to come back for this year's event, but it didn't work out.
We also had some laughs when taking the photo, particularly since I had told him that he was the actor most women were jealous of me getting to meet that day. Plus my line: "Twenty dollars to touch John James? I'll take that deal!" Followed by Mark's line: "Make that $25" and then John's line: "Make that $30."
Next we stood on line for Brooke Smith, who wasn't there yet due to a late flight. And that gave us some quality time with her Chiller next-door neighbor, Brenda Strong.
I saw the gorgeous statuesque actress and her handler struggling to take a selfie, so I sent my photographer -- Mark -- over to do it for them. She was very grateful, I told her how great I thought she was on "Sports Night" and she deemed me a smart lady for knowing her from that great and unfortunately short-lived series.
Then later, we noted a couple of spelling mistakes in Brenda's banner. She grabbed a magic marker and quickly remedied the situation as best she could, to lots of cheers and applause from those in the immediate vicinity.
It was Brooke Smith's first convention and she didn't even get to eat her Chinese food with a line queued up and ready to see her. Knowing that everyone throughout the weekend would be talking "Silence of the Lambs," I went with my other favorite part of hers -- the starring role in "Series 7: The Contenders." No one else on the line even knew what I was talking about when I asked whether they'd seen it.
But she seemed reallllly excited when I presented my "Series 7" DVD cover. She told me that Will Ferrell is a big fan of the movie, that it's becoming more difficult to find for sale and she thinks he's been hording all the copies of it for himself. She said she had just introduced Marilyn Manson to the movie.
I kept saying over and over how brilliant she is in it. Brooke played a pregnant woman forced to participate in a reality game show in which she has to win several times to gain her freedom. It's very very funny, but there are some scary truths about the world that also reveal themselves during the course of the film.
And then ... THE most embarrassing thing when I accidentally copped a feel while we were taking the picture. I was just trying to move arm as she put hers around me, but then it was the reverse Julie Warner instead! (You might remember that a previous event, while trying to get past me in a crowded room, the actress brushed against my chest.) I guess that makes us even Steven, Chiller!
Going to New York Comic Con is always a bit of a crapshoot. You never know what's going to happen and even the best game plan can fall apart due to circumstances beyond your control. You just have to go with it, and hopefully, everything turns out well in the end.
It starts months earlier when tickets go on sale before the guests are announced. They sell out that day, and you hope that there will be something there for you. I guesstimated there would be some kind of presence for "The X-Files," since the revival starts airing on Fox in late January. And not only was that the case, but the U.S. premiere of the first ep was set to be screened for those lucky enough to get into the panel. More on that later.
My sister and I planned to go three days, the first would be the vendor room day, squeezing through aisles and getting bounced around by people with backpacks sometimes bigger than they are. Our major find that day was the "Batman" Michael Keaton shirt that Lor saw and didn't get at the last one. And we happened upon that in a rather unusual way. We were having trouble finding the vendor and had almost given up hope, when I ran into a guy wearing that exact shirt. He even knew where the vendor was who had it. Score!
On the second day, I had two main objectives -- seeing John Larroquette at "The Librarians" panel and meeting Frank Spotnitz, the No. 2 man on "The X-Files" who was there with his new show, "The Man in the High Castle." Only problem was at one end of the Javits Center, "The Librarians" panel was going on, and at the other end, the line was forming for the free "High Castle" signing. It was a tough call, but I left the panel to go stand on the line. That turned out to be a bad decision.
I got text messages from Sis about the panel while I sat on the cold floor on the line. I was told that the people from the show would only be signing items provided for them, so getting an autograph on my "X-Files" yearbook seemed to be out of the question. And then when the signing started, Frank wasn't even there! He had missed his plane and the signing as a result. I got autographs from the rest of the cast and told them I was looking forward to seeing more of the show, which still was true. But I would have had plenty of time for that as it turned out, because the line wasn't as long as expected and Lor caught up to me before it was over.
The next plan was to go to "The Librarians" signing, and hopefully John Larroquette would be there. I was a little dubious, the old crapshoot coming into effect. Outside we had our picture taken by the show's 3-D art work, and I was told that yes, he was scheduled to be among the cast signing. So more sitting on the cement floor in hopes that I would get to meet an actor I have followed faithfully since his four-time Emmy-winning work on "Night Court."
Got to that line four minutes after it opened, and by the time Sis caught up, it was already capped off. But she sat with me anyway, at least she would get to see John. There was some concern over whether I could get my "Night Court" script signed, because of the restrictions on "The Man in the High Castle." But I would get to meet him at least, right?
But it turned out better than expected. Because even Lor got to meet him and get her script signed too. When I went up to him, I exuberantly said, "Hi John, I'm Paige!" And he said "Hi Paige" in that deep voice that resonated down to my toes. I told him that my sister and I still watch "Night Court" episodes and we quote lines to each other all the time. Got a bit of a mock eye roll there, but even that made me laugh. When Lor got her script signed, he even recalled that particular ep.
So I went from feeling low to being at the top of the world. Back outside, I did some public service. Earlier, I had been the first person to ask a con newbie dressed as Captain Jack Harkness from "Doctor Who"/ "Torchwood" for a picture. And now the person he had come with couldn't find him. I scoured the crowd for about 20 minutes as she walked up and down looking for him. He was taken aback when I grabbed him and said she'd be right back and to wait there, but it all worked out. Con Rule No. 1: Always have a meeting place!
I went to use a trailer port-a-potty, and the fates rewarded us for altruism. Because was I shocked when I came out to a stream of golf carts carrying the cast of "The Librarians"! They were going to do a photo shoot at the 3-D picture. With Lor taking pictures, I yelled through the crowd, "John! John!" Not only did John Larroquette stop and turn, he gave us a prolonged wave. Not prolonged enough for the camera to catch up, we just have his initial reaction, but another indelible moment for sure.
Frank Spotnitz was due to arrive in time for "The Man in the High Castle" panel, so I went to that and enjoyed hearing more about the Amazon series based on the Philip K. Dick book. D.J. Qualls told great stories, particularly about how he was cast in the show -- he was exhausted from working on another show and ignored requests to meet with the powers-that-be, until director David Semel told him to "get his ass down there." He was ultimately glad he did, calling the show the best project he's ever been involved in.
When it ended, I lingered long enough to see Frank talking with some people. I got out my book and went over to him to thank him for working so hard for so long on my all-time favorite series. He thanked me effusively and I presented the "yearbook." And this is how Comic Con works out when you least expect it. Then again, we didn't expect the torrential downpour that hit us as we walked back to Penn Station, but the book was miraculously unharmed.
The focus for our final day was all about "The X-Files." I even dressed as Dana Scully, my variation was "Scrubs Scully," since everyone seems to do the suit thing when they cosplay Scully. We went in early to get on the wristband line, once you have that band, you're in. We still wound up getting on the line for the panel/screening early, just so we'd have a better seat once we were in there. And 90 minutes later, we're situated a couple of seats away from the guys videoing the event.
They went to great lengths to prevent people videoing the show, night goggles were apparently being used by security to prevent it. But we saw the show that won't be on air until late January. It was a thrill to see those characters again, we cheered at everything -- including the opening credits which now feature everyone's favorite, Mitch Pileggi.
It really was a setup episode to pave the way for the seven-show revival, introducing some new characters. I was a bit concerned initially when comedian Joel McHale was announced as part of the cast, but he did an excellent job in a new role. The best scenes were the ones in which our mainstays related to each other. A lot has changed, yet it all remains the same.
And that could be said of the panel too. The guests were show creator/executive producer Chris Carter, who wrote and directed the first episode of the revival, David Duchovny (Fox Mulder) and Pileggi. It was moderated by XF podcaster Kumail Nanjiani, who basically geeked out through the whole thing the way any one of us who got to sit there and ask questions of them would. David and Mitch played off each other the way we've seen them do on gag reels over the years.
The audience got a chance to get in a handful of questions. And they weren't shy either. When Chris Carter said Mulder and Scully's relationship has been subjected to bumps in the road of life, one fan retorted, "You don't think they could survive a bump in the road after 20 years?" To which Chris responded. "Sounds like a network note."
We learned that the revival will be stand-alone episodes book-ended by conspiracy ones. And the happiest news for me (although I already knew it) was that my favorite XF scribe, Darin Morgan, penned one of them. Everyone who is into the show probably knows already who will and won't be back for the revival, but fans raised the roof at mentions of The Lone Gunmen and the show's baddest baddie.
After the panel/screening, I went to the meetup for fans of "The X-Files," and although there weren't as many there as I expected, we quickly bonded and ran through all the things we loved about the show. It was great to talk XF with people who can go into the most minute details -- and one of them was, in fact, the woman who had chided Carter during the panel about Mulder and Scully being able to overcome anything at this point. We discussed our favorite eps, and for the first time in recorded history, I found a fan who actually liked Mimi Rogers' Diana Fowley character.
And that's what Comic Con is really all about -- long lines and herding and pushing and shoving and cold floors aside. It can bring together people just as passionate about something as you are in a far more substantial way than you ever expected. And that's why going to a crapshoot never really feels like much of a crapshoot at all.
Time for another Monster-Mania convention, and it's always a pleasure, because they really do them right, with limited irritation and a crop of fun celebrities.
We did have some Chiller flashbacks when one zealous security guy kept trying to get autograph lines to be more compact. Not a man of good humor either, as we found out when I showed him that whoever had put down the masking tape for Brad Dourif's line had spelled his name wrong. "I didn't do it!" he said defensively. I wasn't accusing him of doing it. And just a little joke, guy.
First up: Mitch Pileggi!! I've always been a big Skinner fan on The X-Files, but never had the chance to meet him. So two decades later, maybe I was a little worked up and nervous about it. "Pogoing," I believe, is the term Mark used.
He certainly saw me coming, since I was all decked out with the Fight the Future cap from the first film and T-shirt from my favorite episode, "Jose Chung's From Outer Space." I told Mitch that he's my favorite follower on Twitter, where I'm known as "X-Pai."
I asked him how the revival has been going, he said very well and Fox has been so happy with it that they've added a seventh episode. But he did add that Skinner hasn't been their focus. I, of course, responded with "he should be!"
My question for him was going to be a two-parter -- what was your favorite X-Files episode overall and what was your favorite Skinner-centered episode, but he said "Home" before I got half the question out. ("Home" is the wild and wacky episode about an in-bred family.) When I finished my inquiry, he said he didn't really like any of his own spotlight episodes. That gave me an opening to go into my "SR 819" tale -- it's truly the only XF ep I remember details of watching during first run. (He hilariously crossed his eyes when I mentioned the makeup job he had to go through.) And that's because during the commercials, my friend Jenna and I were calling each other "It's Krycek! It's Krycek!" she exclaimed. "I know, I know!" I yelled back. It was event television in those days before social media and when you could still surprise viewers because spoilers didn't get out.
My other big plan was to get a photo with him, one of the pictures signed and for him to sign what I'm now calling the yearbook -- The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series, the Myths and the Movies book. But the standard convention deal is for a photo and an autograph, it would be $45 more for a second autograph, his handler told me. I then settled on the photo and the autograph, and that's when he told me to give him the book, which he signed without charging me. "Don't tell anyone," he quipped. Which of course, I just did. Bad X-Pai.
Then time for the photo and I bounded behind the table to get close up and personal. I might have been a little overzealous initially ... Mark should have probably told me not to try and climb the guy, but luckily we did another take and that one was a keeper.
Then we got on the Child's Play line, which turned out to be mostly a line for Brad Dourif and less of a line for Alex Vincent, who grew up during the run of the movies. I gotta say I was a little creeped out by the children who were picture-perfectly made up as Chucky and the bride of Chucky. A little bit too real and/or surreal.
Anyway, Brad is pretty much the polar opposite of anything I've ever seen him in. He was so engaging and laughed a lot and played great with kids. When the man before me told Brad that he first saw Child's Play when he was very, very young, Brad said he pretty much didn't let his kids watch anything he did.
I told him that I'm always glad to see him in anything and he really raises the level of everything that he's in. He seemed genuinely appreciative.
And then I brought out the XF yearbook and asked whether he remembered anything from the shoot all those years ago. He said he definitely did, and how great Gillian Anderson was, even so early in her tenure on the show. That first-season episode "Beyond the Sea" is considered her first big showcase on the program, and she just nailed it, particularly in her scenes with Brad.
After that, we got on line for Danielle Harris. She starred in Halloween IV when she was just 10 and did a wonderful job as Jamie Lee Curtis' on-screen daughter Jamie. So after that and Halloween V, I've been a fan. And I told her whenever I see anything I go, "It's Danielle!" She's been in lots of other movies and TV, my other favorites are Urban Legend, Roseanne and The Last Boy Scout.
I asked whether the Halloweens gave her nightmares when she was filming -- another very uninspired question -- and she said, "no way," pointing to co-star George Wilbur (Michael Myers in IV) at the next table and adding that he and everyone else made it so much fun for her. Then we joked that she had a lot more nightmares working with Willis three years later.
I wasn't sure about meeting Malcolm McDowell, and boy was I needlessly concerned, because he was so engaging and downright boisterous. He had the greatest collection of potential autograph materials -- a line of tables chock full of photos, DVDs, Blu-Rays, even A Clockwork Orange scripts.
And it was another round of "anything you're in instantaneously gets better," but it was a true, if unoriginal comment.
When I presented my newly acquired A Clockwork Orange Blu-Ray book said he usually signed the first blank orange page, and I pointed out one I liked better if it was signed in silver pen and then realized aloud, "I'm directing Malcolm McDowell!"
Don't worry, then he got his own chance. Because when I sat down behind his table for the photo, Mark was rocking the patented "Tatum O'Neal photo technique" of holding the camera higher and shooting down upon us. Malcolm objected, in good humor, of course. Then he asked whether Mark was recording the "tirade." He wasn't, so the gracious actor did it all over again. "Tatum, butt out!" became the clarion call of the day.
No further takes required, because, well, look at it, he's Malcolm McDowell and he was on it! Only later did I discover there had previously been bad blood in the press between Malcolm and Tatum's dad Ryan over director Stanley Kubrick. Didn't mean to set off more discord.
Funny thing, though, after I put the photo done his way up on Facebook against the photo done Tatum's way, Tatum's way won! I think it's just a more flattering photo. I will always treasure both of them and the organic way in which all of that occurred. I didn't get to ask him anything about any movie, because we were so busy chuckling over the photo thing. Mark got a serious belly laugh out of it, it took like 15 seconds for him to come out of it.
I did get the chance to warn Malcolm off Chiller (and that's what's going on at the beginning of the video above). Unless he wants to meet up with Tatum there and do battle! In the meantime, how do I get myself on imdb for being in a short film with Malcolm McDowell?
Some concerts everything works out perfectly and it's heaven on Earth. This was not one of those days. But having said that, at the end of the day, I was at a Foo Fighters concert. And at least I knew it.
I have the strangest luck (or lack of it) when it comes to the Foos. Many know of the quest to get the Record Store Day release "Songs from the Laundry Room" -- finally in my possession thanks to the Foos Popup Store that sprung up in New York City (far away from any signs of life) before the show. But of course, my luck is nothing compared to Dave Grohl's. The man broke his leg two songs into a show in Sweden. A couple of weeks ago, a severe electric storm forced the Foos to stop playing in Quebec.
So I should have suspected something when I set out for Citi Field. It was a beautiful day, a real rarity among these parts since it's been a rainy summer. Poster tube in hand, I set out early for the bus-train- train trek to Queens. Getting off the train, I walked halfway around the outside of the stadium to get to Liam, who was in a bar with the tickets. He had asked someone who came in with a show poster where he got it and was told "the rotunda."
Since security said I couldn't go in and come back out again, I walked back around the stadium to get to the rotunda. Where I was told that I couldn't go in for a poster and come back out again. So ... back around the stadium again to go in at the general admission entrance and get on the merch line.
It's finally my turn on line, and the woman asks me what I want. And I open my mouth to say the poster and a guy who wasn't in line calls to her on the other side of the table. She goes to him and sells him ... the last poster. Then she comes back to me and asks what I wanted and I say "what you just sold him." She tells me to go to the stand on the other side of general admission, which I do, and they don't have any.
So now I'm pissed, cause 1.) I went early to get the poster, 2.) went inside instead of hanging at the bar to get said poster, 3.) I'll be carrying around an empty poster tube for the whole day for nothing and 4.) it's a good two hours before the Foos will start.
I considered giving my tube to someone who actually got a poster, I'm not sure why I didn't at that point. But I'm wandering around aimlessly, with a pissed and dejected look on my face. And that's when Angel P., a Mets' customer service rep, asked me what was wrong. So I tell him the sob story. And he tells me to go up the stairs to the concourse and check out the stand up there.
So I did that, and there's a reallllly long line, a couple dozen people. I see the poster. I even see the previous day's one, which frankly is even nicer. But I'm not holding out any lost hope. I just wait and watch. And then it's my turn, and wow, they're still there. So I order two of the day's poster (one for Liam, still getting his drink on) and the previous day's one. And that one is the last one they have! Luck's on my side this time. Which ticked off the guy next to me, who was going to ask for it. Sorry, I say, but it already happened to me today. Plus that dude kinda looked like the one who had just beat me out, so I was twice as happy about it.
Now I've got the posters and a nice pina colada. I stop to tell Angel P. the story and he's good at his job, because he really seems interested/ happy about my success. Royal Blood opens the show, but I'm busy eating my Nathan's and drinking my Hurricane to notice anything but that they're very loud. I do have a nice conversation with a couple -- the guy was wearing an Austin City Limits Music Festival shirt -- and we talk about Beck and Pearl Jam. He tells me that people in that city say they live in Austin, not Texas. Great line.
I go over to the left side of the stage (which is set up in the outfield with the infield covered and blocked off), and it's much less crowded because the entrance is on the other side. But when Liam and friends come in, they stay on the crowded side, and I go over there 'cause who wants to watch a cool show by themselves?
The Foos open the show with "Everlong," which I thought would be the kind of song that makes everyone stop in their tracks and just watch. It's an easy favorite to have, very emotional, and now it reminds me of the last David Letterman show as well as a tale I heard online of a serviceman who hadn't seen his baby since she was born. When he got to the airport and finally saw her, "Everlong" was playing over the PA system. Just perfect.
Anyway, the trek of people never stopped. It didn't matter what they played! "Monkey Wrench," "Learn to Fly," "Big Me," "My Hero," "All My Life" ... whatever it was, they kept walking. Maybe they were there to go to the Shake Shack or buy one of the filet mignon sandwiches. I just couldn't figure it out. Every now I would yell something sarcastic at them, I don't remember any of the better lines.
But Dave and the Foos were having a good time, whether it was their own material ("Congregation" from the Emmy-nominated "Sonic Highways" sounds spectacular in the open air) or covers (Kiss' "Detroit Rock City," Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" and Alice Cooper's "School's Out). I'm truly glad they forsook the Rush cover of "Tom Sawyer," blech!!!
And somewhere along the way, it was easy to forget the crowds continually streaming in front of us by dancing -- the covers of Queen's "Under Pressure" and Tom Petty's "Breakdown" were great jams. Oh, I remember one joke! When "Under Pressure" started, Liam and I joked that those filing past recognized that -- "Yeah, it's Vanilla Ice! Rad, it's "Ice Ice Baby"!!
I also felt better when I started using my elbows while dancing. So I wasn't just getting bumped around, I was doing some knocking myself.
As you can see in the videos, Dave was rocking the "throne" he created while he was high on Oxycontin post-leg surgery. It really is some spectacle, with lasers (that's how you spell "lasers," Dave!) and special lighting and, best of all, enables Dave to keep on rocking.
Dave and Taylor Hawkins (ever the showman behind the kit) and company went out of their minds when they were joined on stage by a couple of their own heroes -- guitarist Dr. Know and bassist Darryl Jenifer -- from the punk band Bad Brains. They rocked out on "How Low Can a Punk Get" and "The Regulator."
They broke Citi Field curfew, of course, and wrapped up with "This Is a Call" (it was the first Foos record I ever got, a 12-inch single) and "Best of You."
Then I left Liam and friends in the dust, because I had to rush to get the train back to the train to get home. I shouldn't have bothered. Because I wound up sitting on the platform waiting for 20 minutes (after a lot of pushing and shoving through the gate for the privilege). And when that train got to Penn Station, another hour wait for the last train of the night to New Brunswick.
That train was one slow moving drunk train, I gotta tell you. Not only that, but only four cars were open. Love that, big long train, with the Foo crowd and more heading home and not everyone gets a seat. I had one, next to a smelly guy who I think stole his ticket. Anyway, finally get to my stop and ... all the cabs are gone, because the train was late and the drivers thought it already came through. Luckily, I flagged one down on the street and finally got to put my poster tube down after 12 hours.
I was under pressure ... and I was about to break ... down ... but all my life ... I'll remember being part of that ... congregation.
It's two completely different sides of the musical spectrum. On the one hand, the 70th birthday celebrations for Eric Clapton at Madison Square Garden. And on the other, the reigning Tony Award-winning musical "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder."
Clapton kicked off the weekend at Madison Square Garden. He rolls through the setlist with some familiar bluesy favorites, such as "Key to the Highway" and "Hoochie Coochie Man." The first of the evening's guests, John Mayer, joins for "Pretending," and although his performance is entirely perfunctory, the rest of E.C.'s assemble still makes it a winner.
For a while the highlight is "Driftin'," dedicated to Ben E. King (who had passed away the previous day and who Eric once said wrote the most beautiful love song ever written in "Stand by Me.") This is delivered during the sit-down acoustic portion of the evening and every note sounds like it is driftin' up to the fallen King.
For this show, we had front-row seats ... of the third section from the stage. But for me, it was great, because no one was standing in my way preventing me from seeing the performers and I also got to move around to the music. It took about three or four songs for me to loosen the knots in my neck, but I really started to get into a solid hippie, trippy vibe around "Can't Find My Way Home." It was great to have uber-bassist Nathan East back with E.C. again in general, but particularly on this song.
And speaking of people who were back, the highlight of the first night was, without a doubt, Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II joining Clapton and crew for "Let It Rain." One of the greatest musical regrets I harbor is missing the tour in which Derek and Doyle backed up E.C., prodding him to heights he hadn't reached for a while on material he had long since packed away. So for the few minutes we got of "Let It Rain," I was in high heaven.
Less successfully, Jimmie Vaughan had come out a few songs before to play "Before You Accuse Me," and while it was great to see him, the collaboration just didn't soar the same way. Jimmie's solo was a little stilted, and E.C., being the reflective mirror he tends to be, almost echoed the same thing back.
At a very early point in the evening, Mark and I started recognizing songs before they fully kicked in. With "Can't Find My Way Home," the crowd sort of doesn't get it until the full band kicks into gear, while both of us can recognize it in a couple of bass notes. "I Shot the Sheriff" meanders around for a while until the riff that signals the start brings most of the arena into the fold. I think two or three minutes prior to that point, I yelled, "SPOILER ALERT! It's
'I Shot the Sheriff'!"
That song, by the way, is one I never listen to home, but hang on every note during a live show. As opposed to say "Wonderful Tonight," which has become my group's signal to call a friend not at the show. Mainly it's a "Network Time Killer," as they used to say on David Letterman's "Late Night" show. I took the joke one step further and called my friend, Susan, who was actually at the same show and sitting closer at the stage. The things we do to make ourselves laugh.
One of the biggest surprises was "Tears in Heaven." It's Eric's biggest "hit" of all time, but he stopped playing it for a long while. I was pretty peeved to see people heading to the bathroom during it. When it first debuted in concert in the early '90s, well, it was like everyone in the arena held their breath, knowing that the song was for his son, Conor, who had died tragically at 4 1/2 years old. They cheered in support after every verse, every chorus. Now, it was just another song. That took some of the air out of my tires.
I'm not sure playing everyone's favorite "Layla" acoustically (as on the multi-platinum "Unplugged" album) was the best way to mark the milestone birthday, for we all kinda wanted to rock out, but it was nicely done. The same could be said for keyboardist Paul Carrack's version of "You Are So Beautiful." And though we pleaded for a change in the slow blues number, it still was "Little Queen of Spades," which offers Clapton and crew the chance to solo so beautifully, but has lost its zing from being in the rotation for a few years now.
The whole show had a very laidback vibe, which irked some of my friends, but which I rather enjoyed as just a way to chill out and rid myself of earthly concerns. And so it was pretty easy for me to jam my way through "Crossroads" and "Cocaine" to the encore of "High Time We Went," with all the guest stars coming back for one more solo in celebration of Clapton.
While I would hardly consider this a true retrospective a career that has gone so many places, the man throws a nice party.
Thanks to the Rangers' continuing playoff run (insert every expletive you can think of here, both for me as a Devils fan and just one of the people whose schedule was upended), the second show was changed to Sunday night. So after working Saturday, I was ready for more. But before the concert, we decided to talk a good friend into seeing a Broadway show we thought he would enjoy ... and that we were dying (so to speak) to see again, namely "A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder."
Mark and I were blown away by it last year. I bought tickets the night it won the Tony (but before it actually did), so we got pretty good seats and had a great time. Now with co-lead Bryce Pinkham and some of the other original cast members gone and one of the members of the ensemble, Jeff Kready, now in the protagonist's role, it would be the same but different. Of course, Jefferson Mays, the Tony-nominated star who somehow manages to pull off eight distinct roles in the production, remained the primary reason to go at all.
So after some leg twisting, we got Steve to go, and we set out for the Sunday matinee ahead of the second Clapton show. I thought it might take a while for him to get into it since he's one of many in the world who aren't interested in seeing a Broadway musical, but he was cackling with laughter almost from the outset. Because this ain't your grandma's Broadway musical. It's full of snarkiness and malevolence, but retains a great sense of humor about itself.
Since that was a matinee show and they had to do it all over again at 8 p.m., I thought the actors probably wouldn't be hanging out with the fans at the stage door. But since everyone else probably thought the same thing, the crowd was actually rather small and we did stay for a bit to see who we could see. One of the first ones out was Jeff Kready (who Mark actually liked better than Pinkham in the co-lead role).
I moved to the end of the line, a dangerous spot if an actor decides to cut and run after a couple of autographs, but a great spot for taking pictures together if he is so inclined. And Jeff was so gracious with everyone, it's really heartening to see someone move up from an ensemble role in the show to the lynchpin that holds everything together.
I told him we had seen the show twice, I don't know why I was surprised by his surprised reaction to that, but he was very grateful to have heard that. My big question for him was about whether it got confusing when getting directions, between Jeff and Jefferson. And he said, "Not really, cause he's always Jefferson." And I quipped, "Or Mr. Mays," and he repeated "Or Mr. Mays" with a laugh.
We waited some more, got to see some of the other cast members, including the hilarious Carole Shelley, who puts the show in off-kilter mode right from the get-go as Miss Shingle. She didn't stop, but she did wave to all of us. I wondered if Jefferson Mays would even come out the door, after all, it's a rigorous day for him without fan dwellers.
But he did, and I almost lost my shit. I don't curse a lot in my blog, but I was about five seconds away from breaking into tears when he started down the line. I was in my choice position again at the end. That really turned out in my favor, when Mark took the picture to end all pictures -- me and Jefferson, with a couple of his characters photo-bombing on the wall behind us.
I know my babblings included telling him that "Kind Hearts and Coronets" was my favorite movie, and I had been apprehensive about the show the first time I saw it, but that I loved it so much and that he was so brilliant. (Another one taken aback at hearing we'd seen it more than once.) Jefferson told me that he originally saw the movie when he was 8 years old, and it made him want to be an actor.
My question for him was about those rapid-fire costume and character changes he undergoes, sometimes having to be back on stage within a minute. He said at present there were four people who helped him with costume, "one for each limb." He's funny without a script too.
I was so overwhelmed with how nice they were that I actually had to sit down to catch my breath. Then we headed for Guy Fieri's American Kitchen and Bar, which was unsummarily ripped in its New York Times review, thus sealing Mark's interest in going to see what the fuss was about. The maitre d' asked if we had reservations and I mumbled, "we have serious reservations." The food was remarkably unspectacular, but my Pina Colada Royale and our waitress, Olivia, were amazing.
And then we were back at the Garden for the second Clapton show. Now mind you, by this time, I have had about four hours sleep five nights in a row, my work schedule is out of kilter and I'm reaching the point of total exhaustion. Which explains why I kept falling asleep during songs, having vivid nightmares and waking up within the same song. In the '60s, you needed drugs to have that kind of reaction at a show.
I was able to take notice of the fact that overall, the show was better and everything sounded spectacular. But I would say I enjoyed the first one more, because I got to stand and dance and I was really feeling it. The second one, we were in the front row in an upper section, and if I got up to dance there for any prolonged amount of time, there's a chance I would have toppled over the railing in my state.
This time, knowing that "Let It Rain" was going to bring down the house, they moved it to the end and did away with "Cocaine." And the rest was pretty much the same, only better and yet not quite the same for me. We did the terribly un-rock-and-roll-like thing of heading home immediately afterward, which was necessary but a bummer, because part of the magic of all of it will always be hanging out with friends after the show. So I didn't get to say a final farewell to Smoosan and Steve and Willie and Bruce and Renee and the gang. Instead, I'll just say see ya further on up the road.
