Here goes the adventure in NYC 12/26
I prepare my New Years gift to Todd & Rundgrens.. Can't go into the details in this message but will some time in the future. Collin & I make the 1:33pm train out of Poughkeepsie and are on our way to Grand Central Station. As always the ride down is pleasant with views of the mighty Hudson River. We arrive on time in NYC, make are way to Times Square and stop in at 'Juniors' famous restaurant and have a nice lunch. Next, we proceed to find the nearest 'Best Buy' store to purchase a camera., Collin whips out his iPhone and starts to pull up GPS and we find one of the Best Buy stores right on 23rd St, about a half mile west of the Blender Theatre. The streets were absolutely crowded with people but that’s what I love about NYC..the crowds of people. We get to the Best Buy and sure doesn't look like your normal Best Buy store..you know..the blue, yellow, and black lettering..but when you finally get into it, the escalator downstairs opens up to a very, very large floor full of electronic gear. Of course I can't find the certain camera I wanted but the sales clerk tells me that it’s at the other store uptown.. umm 'No way' I tell the clerk.. that ‘next’ store is 30 blocks away from where we are and its 6:10pm. The camera purchase will have to wait for another day, besides Collin reminds me he has his iPhone and it takes good pictures.
It's now 6:30pm and we are in front of the Blender Theatre and there it is 'Todd Rundgren 26th & 27th Dec'. Who's the first one in line, one of our own TR connection members, 'Freakparade' She shows me her beautiful hand made painted AWATS t-shirt that is somewhere on one of these forums. Believe me, a picture doesn't do it justice. We chat with many other people, someone who flew in from Miami FL who hasn't heard of the last 2 or 3 Todd CD's..yes hasn't heard of Arena yet but we give her the skinny and we let her know that it will be a hard rocking show but she states..'bring it on'. There are two other lovely ladies who are from just north of Philly and they have been Todd fans for years. We exchange stories and we touch on a personal Todd item..'The 6th member of the band'. Who or what is the 6th member of the band??? Let's just say Todd carries him around all of the time and sometimes in leather....nope not going any further with this one. Ok so a cab pulls up and Jesse, Prairie, and?? ok I forgot if Rachel or Kasim were with them. They greet many of us fans and I ask Prairie to give my New Years gift to Todd, he generously accepts my request. About 20 mins later Todd pulls up and briefly meets up with some of us fans. I reach out my hand for hand shake and he shakes without hesitation. Way to cool.
We march up to the stage first in line. Who is there? Freakparade, Baby Sandy, the girls from North of Philly. I thought my son, Collin was the youngest person there but this ends up not being true. There are two young lads that flew in all the way from Tennessee! Don't remember their names but they were 15 to 16 years old. What is really cool, their grandmother who looks just like Bridget Bardo(weird, song Bardo, looks like Bardo) is right behind them. I ask how they heard of Todd...find out they are fans of New York City Dolls!! So they knew that Todd produced them back in the 70s and they knew that he will soon produce them again . I ask them both if they have any Todd CD's and one of them chirps up that he has the 'Todd' and 'Runt' CD's I told them they had to go out and purchase AWATS as soon as possible and 'Todd Rundgren’s Utopia'
So the Blender is packed and things are going fine..we are all rocking out near front stage. There is some dude left of me dress up in a Santa outfit and has peacock eyelashes on. What a hoot! Todd laughs at him a few times.
We are now about half way through the concert and things are getting a little strange. There is this middle age blond hair lady(She-demon) who seems a little 'tipsy' (either drunk or high on something besides grass). She is swaying back and forth and her eyes are glued to Kasim! I mean she is sending 'Radar love' out of those eyes and she starts falling over towards me and I gently push her past me and now she is standing in front of a shorter lady and that shorter lady is really pissed. Next She-demon bumps into this short lady and short lady starts jabbing her with her elbows and bitching up a storm..now this is getting very interesting. She-demon now ventures near front stage and starts to lean on Freakparade's friend and her friend starts jabbing her.. and yelling at her to get the ‘F’ away from her…yikes!!! We now have two woman jabbing She-demon and the funny thing is, She-demon is oblivious to all of this. She looks as though she is in a trance with her Radar love eyes totally beamed on every movement Kas is making. ..this is totally hilarious to us all up in front to say the least and we know that Kasim knows that this lady is possessed with him. Kasim meanders over to Jesse's side of the stage and it appears to me that are laughing a little about She-demon's fascination with Kasim...Finally after many pushes, jabs, and shouting, She-demon finds her place and is no longer the side show to us fans up in front but she still has those Radar love eyes on Kasim and has a smile on her face that just won't come off..
Next, while the band comes back on stage for the encore, Rachel hands out a number of picks to all of us up in front...Rachel you're the best. The show is over now and the lights come on and we all scream and yell with applause to Todd and the band. As I leave the Blender I wonder if Kasim will make it home ok or will She-demon send Radar love to him and sweep him off his feet..Nah no way! What a night. We arrive back in PTown about 2:30am.. Whew!
