Let’s get the obvious out of the way. It is NOT Friday. It is, in fact, Saturday. But Famous Fridays sounds better than Famous Saturdays and I had intended to post this yesterday. Capiche?
Thursday was our big day in New York to see The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. But a big day like that doesn’t begin the morning you wake up. No. An adventure like that takes planning beforehand. There are important things to consider like what you will wear and what you will listen to in the car.
We were each tasked with giving Taylor 20 songs we wanted to listen to so he could put them into a Spotify playlist. And since I was the one who procured the tickets I made the rule that all 20 songs could NOT be country. (I’m the only one in my family who is not a fan). Choosing only 20 songs is very difficult, but Katie and I met the challenge. Todd, not so much. The NYC playlist was eclectic and exceptional and really good! At one point Todd mentioned his disappointment that there wasn’t any Dave Matthews and we told him it was because we figured that’s all he would put on his list. Seriously – Taylor, Katie and I had had that exact conversation beforehand.
The question of what to wear was a hot topic as well. The tickets say “smart casual”, but nobody could quite agree on what that was. The weather didn’t help matters any, either, because it was supposed to be rainy and muggy and just generally yucky. That messes up shoe choices which, in turn, messes up clothing choices. One doesn’t want to wear cute sandals if one is going to be running around the city in rain. And one doesn’t want to wear cold weather shoes with capris. And one doesn’t want to wear cute little flats that are too small and cause blisters.
Finally our decisions were made (mine were pretty much made at the very last minute) and we piled into the car with the tasty tunes. Traffic was light and it was looking like we were going to have more than enough time to get to the studios. We were driving up to Weehawken for the ferry and even I-95 was moving along nicely. And then when we got a few miles from our exit everything stopped. The George Washington Bridge was closed so millions upon millions (or at least it seemed like it) cars decided to take the Lincoln Tunnel – which was our exit. It took us a good hour to go what should have been about 10 minutes. Bad enough in any situation, but when you started the road trip 2+ hours earlier with large beverages, well, you get the idea.
Eventually we made it to the ferry, over the Hudson and jumped on the free city bus to take us to 30 Rockefeller Center where we stood in a line to get our wrist bands and tickets.
Then we made our way down to the concourse underneath the plaza for some eats and a rest before we had to go stand in line again. There was a lot of standing in line and a lot of feeling like cattle. Then it was through security, into an elevator, down a short hall, into a round room and then through the doors into the studio. The very small studio. It’s amazing how the cameras can make the studio look so much larger.
The real fun began once we were in our seats. The Roots were stellar as always. Ben Stiller made a surprise appearance which was exciting. Chris Rock was good, though they cut out some of his stuff, and Chris Christie was pretty funny as well. The musical guest was Kacey Musgraves which would have been great if I liked country music. I did enjoy the glittery outfits, though.
We had a great time at the show, a lot of laughing ensued, and watching the mechanics of the show was a lot of fun. And then it was over.
What to do then? Oh! I know! Let’s walk a few blocks down and over and go to Juniors! So we did. Amazingly we waited less than 10 minutes for a table. Delicious deli food (I had the Reuben) and then the real reason we went there. Cheesecake. Plain cheesecake. It was everything I ever imagined it would be.
As we tried to find a cab that could fit all four of us it started raining. Thankfully we didn’t have to stand in the rain too long before Todd jumped in front of a cab with its light on and caught us a ride back to the ferry. Over the Hudson and through the woods oil refineries to get back home. We boarded the ferry at 8:30 and pulled into our driveway around 11. That included a stop at a service station. I don’t want to admit that I drove too fast, but I drove too fast.
It was a long and exhausting day but a great experience! Now we have to wait another 6 months before I can get tickets again.
Come back next Friday (or possibly Saturday) when I do my next installment of Famous Fridays.
People may be jealous, but let me just tell you something. We deserve this. I deserve this. Getting the tickets was grueling work. My friend, Dan, told me they would be giving out the June tickets on the Monday or Tuesday before Memorial day. So that Monday I put the website up on my computer at work and kept hitting refresh in between tasks, but nothing ever happened.
Jenster's Musings 