Keane Rocks NYC

Ok, So I had an AMAZING TIME on Wednesday. I had to work for a little bit but that was ok because I knew that I was going to have an awesome time in the city. So what I am going to do here is pretty much copy most of Honey's Blog and just interject where needed. I will put her blog in blue and my thoughts in bright green. Let's get started!!!

Wednesday was packed with a whole bunch of hits and misses but nothing that left me feeling anything but happy. I call it the day of Almosts. In addition to going to library to actually check out some books (which I did, nine to be exact) the night was to be filled with the sounds of Keane, British band extraordinaire. They rocked. More about them in a bit. Honey did get a Shitload of books and Keane totally rocked!! I met the lovely Robyn at the library, met up with Yetta, and made our way to Union Square to the City Bakery for some kickin' hot chocolate. I met up with them in front of Library bc there was no parking what so ever, so we drove up to union square and then found parking there, which is always great to park free in the city. Yesterday's special flavor was ginger hot chocolate. It was homemade and good for the first few sips, but after that I felt like my head was spinning. The ginger tasted a bit like the kind I had had the night before with my sushi and it kind of tainted my psyche a bit. The chocolate was soooo thick. I had a sip of Honey's and it didn't really float my boat, so I got a homemade ice tea and a cookie, it was ok. Magnolia is def. better!!

Roybn seemed to enjoy it. I could tell cause she said "What!?!? Are you going to throw that away??!!? You can't do that!" Haha, you know you did Robyn...Thanks for the Magnet ep by the way. Most excellent. Yes Thank you sooooo much for the magnet CD's that was awesome of you!!! Now you have to get him to come to NYC!!

We sat in Union Sq. Park watching Yetta freak out as pidgeons approached from all sides, planning an strategic attack, ready to nose dive into her with their ferocious wings and beaks. Oh, the horror. I fed some of the squirrels who were acting like dogs, standing up on their back legs with their arms outstretched. It was seriously cute as they ate some of my cookie. "What if they have rabies!?" Yetta yelled, to which I responded, "If they did, they would have bitten into your leg by now." I have an actual phobia of birds, it's a real thing!!! David Boreanaz is afraid of birds and so are a lot of other people. It's NOT weird!!! I was fine with the squirrels until they came way too close to us, these aren't cats, they are so domesticated though. I was freaking out so much thought that I forgot that when I stood up suddenly I had my gloves on my lap and we walked away and then later I realized that I forgot my gloves, but when Honey and I went back to get my gloves, they were gone. We were gone for like 7 minutes. that's just crazy!!!

Poor Robyn had to go to class (next time we'll do lunch, my peeps will call your peeps) We should also really try and go to some concert together.

Yetta and I decided to drive to the west side highway to check out some filming trucks that she spotted outside of the pier studios (where they film the interiors for Law and Order). As you know, I love me some Vincent D'Onofrio. Me too. Of course Yetta's already met the man but I insist that I must have a meet and greet as well, and that she needs to make this happen for me. Well, that nearly came true yesterday, we were so close we could taste it.I tried so hard. We drove down west 23rd looking for parking, when we saw even more trucks and police signs blocking off the street. (See the pic above, yeah Yetta stole that for me). But we couldn't read what the sign said from the car. So we parked and Yetta walked over to the signs. She read it, and then out of nowhere she starts screaming and charging for me and saying "Law and Order Criminal Intent!!!!!!" over and over. ya I was totally freaking out. At this point I'm hyperventilating. The idea of actually meeting Vincent D'Onofrio was enough to make me start jumping up and down on the street in Chelsea. And let me tell you, people don't do that there. Not even the hot gay men. But I couldn't help it. I was fucking excited. So we scoped out the apartment building they were filming in and asked if Vincent was around. When I say 'we' I mean, of course, Yetta. Cause we all know that I don't talk to random people. The dude told us that he might be at the soundstage at the piers. So we went over there and Yetta started talking to everyone of those production guys. They were all very cute and union. The were definitely playing around with us, and got a kick out of the whole thing. Totally making us feeling like idiots. It was great. They were nice and this one tall dude even went inside to check and see if Vincent was there. But he wasn't. :( He was there earlier in the day, but his costar Katherine Erbe or 'Katie' as they called her, called in sick. Since Vincent and 'Katie' do all of their scenes together it was kind of pointless for him to stick around. I hate her now. Needless to say, we were disappointed. But the whole thing was still pretty hilarious. We walked back down 23rd and Yetta stole two of the signs and sliced her finger open in the process. That was unfortunate. But we were laughing. I love when random things like that happen it was sooo funny. I totally did get a flesh wound though, I was so excited that I didn't even notice it until I got in the car and was looking at the steering wheel with my hand on it and there was blood. it was too funny.

Made our way uptown to pick up my shit and park the car and heading for another round of sushi that kicked ass. Another eel and shrimp tempura rool. Rockin. We got parking again for FREE!!! I had this salmon with panko bread crumbs and it was awesome!! the waiter was cute and we were easedropping on his conversation with one of the waitresses, it was funny.

Took the lovely subway down to 34th street to hammerstein ballroom. I don't know how lovely it was? Which by the way has a backdoor on 35th street. I DON'T THINK THAT I WILL EVER FORGET!!! ARGH!!! For future reference.I had a headache from all the excitement earlier in the day and felt like my head might explode. I did make Honey buy a single dose pack of tylenol thought. The only other time I was at Hammerstein, I saw the Doves with Adrianne. My Morning Jacket opened. That show rocked. The venue is actually quite beautiful and very large. I had been there b4 but not in Hammerstein, but in a studio upstairs. I was there for Dave Matthews and Friends when they played CMT.

We made our way up to the front since it was general admission, and ended up standing in what was basically second row stage left. Awesome view. I could see the buttons on Tom Chaplin's shirt. I could see the buttons of his pants. hahaha And his butt looked great. YES IT DID!! So did his legs I digress. So do I. We met these wacky people named Pauly and Mary who were from Connecticut, chain smokers, drunk, and hysterical. They were oddballs.

This band named redwalls came on and they were great. Still have a long way to go, but had a great beatles like sound. With an undertone of Franz Ferdinand. We met them after their set and they seemed kind of shy. They also seemed 16. Then this band called the Zutons came on and they just sucked. I saw them when they opened for Muse, and they sucked then too. It's the skinny girl with the sax that annoys me. And her dancing isn't attractive, it's just one hot mess.They were awful!!! There was one good song then the girl started having, what looked like a seizure. They were really bad. Keane finally hit the stage at 9:30 on the dot and from beginning to end they reached new heights of brilliance. Tom's voice was in top shape, sounded just as good if not better than the last time I saw them. It was the first really big show for them in new york and they didn't disappoint a completely sold out room. Everyone sang along and his beautiful voice filled the room touching everyone and everything. Reverberating in your chest and ringing in your ears. He is truly a blessed to have that voice. I thought Tim's hands were going to start bleeded from how hard he was pounding the piano. And Richard just looked possessed on the drums. It's amazing how lush a sound they produce for such a small band. I think my favorite song was "We might as well be strangers." "Allamande" was great as well. Yetta remarked that some of the songs made her heart ache. It totally did, it was soooo great. Tom Chaplin was simply amazing!! I felt the same way. Tom is a really great frontman, and you wouldn't think it with that cherubic face of his. But he commands attention. I'm very happy that they're starting to garner some serious airplay and respect.

After the show, Yetta did her best to pilfer anything she could from the stage. She came so close to getting a drumstick, but "this bitch" stole it from her. She was a huge bitch - you know who you are out there!!! She did however get something even better (at least in my opinion). My opinion too. The security guard gave her what he thought was a setlist that was taped to Tom's monitor. What it actually turned out to be, however, was his "crib" sheet of intros to songs and other various things he wanted to say during the show. Like "Hello NYC, it's great to play in a place like this..../I hope this song reminds you of the places you love the most..." All in Tom's handwriting. I have to say, it's a pretty cool memento.

So as I was standing there, watching Yetta steal stuff (HEY!!) from the stage (just kidding) (Whatever) this girl walked right up to me and asked me if I posted on the Keane message boards. She thought she recognized me. And I said no, but what's your name? Her name was Heather and she was very cool. From Texas, Keane lover, 24 watcher, (How could you not be a 24 watcher?) HMMM Kiefer..... and all around good person in my book. We wanted to try and meet the band after the show, so we stood outside the front door entrance for over an hour. As people walked out we asked if the band was still in the building and everyone told us something different. That was rude. After freezing our asses and conversing with some cool french people, one of the hammerstein employees told us that the band might have headed out the back door on 35th street. So I volunteered to walk around the block. Lo and behold what did i see? A bunch of roadies packing up a huge truck which was parked behind an equally huge tour bus. Damn. So what did i do you ask? I fucking ran. I don't run. At least not in public. And especially not in new york city. That's just embarrassing. But after waiting over an hour in the cold, i felt it was necessary. When I reached 34th I just yelled, "The tour bus is back there!" over and over. Yetta ran and everyone else looked bit perplexed. We ran back to 35th and up the street when I saw the backlights of the bus get brighter and I knew that it was starting to pull away. I stopped running, but Yetta didn't. She fucking ran after the bus screaming "wait!" I was so out of breath, not from just the running, but also from the laughing. I felt like I just needed them to stop, I felt responsible for not going to the back, so I thought if they saw me, they would stop, they didn't. :( Needless to say, they didn't stop the bus. I felt totally defeated. Me too. No Vincent or Keane love. But somehow, the whole thing was hysterical.Yetta and I headed back to Jersey and hit an all night diner where we had a second dinner. I was so hungry that I downed a western omelette in about 4 minutes. We hit the sack at 2:30 and woke up at 8.

Drove back into the city, Killers on the stereo and the sun blazing. The whole day was totally rockin' and I had a great time. Next time it will be a day of definates, not almosts. Arrived in D.C. three hours later, U2 in my ears, and snow blizzarding. Drank a second cup of coffee while the momma told me i didn't have cancer. It was a great day. I was so releaved when Honey told me that she was CANCER free!!!! I was so happy. So thanx for the great news, even though you called me at work and told me. I had to go to work that day and it was a late day I had to work until 8:30pm, I could barely keep my eyes open. When I got home that night I didn't even eat dinner, I finished watching ER and went right to sleep.

Friday was a crazy day and I did so much, we did laundry, went to get cat stuff, and went food shopping. I just couldn't wait until I went to sleep. When Honey was hear she let me borrow 3 movies and now that it's sunday I saw them all. ok, "A Home at the End of the World," was really depressing. I thought Robin wright Penn was really good in it, and Colin was hot and very natural in a vulnerable roll. "Behind the Red Door" I didn't think was going to be so depressing also, but it was really good. Everyone in it was great. Kiefer was an ass in the beginning, but he's still hot (even as a gay man). Then saw "Phonebooth" that was a pretty good movie, Colin was really good in that scene where he's confessing everything. Kiefer's a freak in it, but I don't care. He's Hot!!!

Alright, I think that's a huge ass blog. Thanks to Honey for doing most of the work. Robin it was really good to see you. thanx for the Magnet. Honey as always it was great to see you and I had an AWESOME time, as always!!! speak to you later.

peace out yo