CONCERT IN NEW YORK CITY
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This is not my college fraternity pal Craig "Stanley" Bluin...but could be his doppelganger. Got nothing to do with this post though. |
Mrs. C got me
to go to a concert on Tuesday. I don’t
like concerts. Mrs. C loves
concerts. I have learned to make an
occasional concession. This concert was
in NYC at the Beacon Theater. The
theater alone was worth the visit; it is unbelievably ornate.
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| Above the stage |
The concert was
with Steven Demetre Georgiou…do I hear crickets? How about Yusuf Islam? Some of you know; he was formally known as
and is back again as, Cat Stevens.
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| Ceiling...would not want to be seated underneath this |
I can’t say as
I am Cat Steven's biggest fan, but I do like him a lot and wanted to see him perform
live. I probably only know five of his
songs, but he has written many more. He
is an excellent guitar player, and I have learned to play the five songs I know
on guitar. I don’t play quite as well as
Cat…my singing is even worse.
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| Exit stage left |
Anyway, the
concert started at 8:00. Mrs. C wanted
to take the train in and take it back after the show. I hate the train from NYC late at night. There are always sketchy people at that time
of night, usually annoying drunk Met or Yankee fans. Also I just dislike ending a nice day at a
show with a two-hour commute home late at night.
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| Exit stage right |
I suggested we
get a hotel room. We could get into the
city early, check in, relax, have a nice dinner in town and then have plenty of
time to get to the theater. After the
show a comfortable room would await us, and the trip home the next day would be
nice and relaxed.
Sounds good
right?
Without
spending a total fortune Mrs. C got a room for half a fortune at a hotel 40
streets and an avenue or three from the theater. No problem, we still would have plenty of
time.
Except we
booked the hotel before we knew we would start renovation on our guest
bathroom. We wanted to leave for the
hotel by noon. The contractors tied us
up and we did not leave until 4:00.
A relaxed trip
with plenty of time to check in, change clothes and have a nice dinner at a
nice restaurant turned into a flat out race.
Local train to
the city got in at 5:20.
Waiting for a
taxi at the station, 15 minutes.
Taxi to hotel
about ten blocks 25 minutes.
Check in and
change, it was 6:15…no time for a nice relaxing dinner.
Subway to the
theater was a real challenge. Mrs. C was
never a NYC commuter or subway expert, but man can she read a map and she
downloaded a map for the subway.
We walked two
blocks up to Park Avenue and took the E train uptown to 52nd Street, took the 3
train to 42nd Street, the 6 train to 72nd Street and walked to the theater on
74th Street.
It was now
7:15, show starts at 8:00. We had enough
time for a slice of pizza, which in NYC was easy to find, there were several
choices within a block.
At least it was
a great show. Cat Stevens still has that special voice and guitar style.
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| Still not Stanley, this is Cat Stevens on stage. The way you can tell is Stanley can't play guitar for shit... Cat is pretty good. |
The next
morning, we enjoyed breakfast at a nearby diner and took a cab to the train station. We
caught a train home without a long wait and I finally felt relaxed.
Here is where
people (the Cranky’s) can be funny.
Tickets to the
show cost…I don’t even want to say…they were damn expensive. The round trip train cost $42. The taxi to the hotel cost $20. The hotel cost… I don’t even want to say…it
was damn expensive. The taxi back to the
train was $10 (less traffic). On the
train home Mrs. C kept checking the time.
“Why are you checking the time,
there is no longer any hurry.”
“Parking at the
station is $7 for a 20 hour stay, after that it is $9 for a full day. We need to get to the car by 11:57 or it will
cost an extra $2."
The train got
us to the station at 11:52. We ran to
the parking lot and got there at 11:56.
We saved $2.
Priceless!
Priceless!
ReplyDeleteThat was funny! Sounds like a great time without the rush though. I think you needed that.
ReplyDeleteFortunate, you saved $2! LOL
Oh gosh, now I feel even older. I remember listening to Cat Stevens songs when I was in high school. I bet it was a great concert, even worth all the hassle to get there. Chalk it up for one for the memory books and a great experience to blog about :)
ReplyDeletebetty
"We saved $2" yep, that's priceless. And after spending all that other money, that $2 might just come in handy :)
ReplyDeleteThe theater certainly is gorgeous.
You guy are ALWAYS funny! SD hates paying for parking - he would have found a side street somewhere and made me walk 2 miles to the train station.
ReplyDeleteHeeheehee! Does she also order a diet soda and then say she can have dessert because she saved the calories for it by not drinking regular soda?
ReplyDeleteHope that next time you do get the nice, relaxed trip from beginning to end.
Must keep ones priorities straight .... it's okay to spend a fortune on entertainment but NOT for safe storage of the car. That's a hoot.
ReplyDeleteCat Stevens! Wow!
ReplyDeleteI'm exhausted just reading this. The only thing that didn't sound rushed was your breakfast. Well at least you saved 2 bucks.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ☺
LOL, those sort of outings always tempt me to calculate the cost per hour! At least with sleeping in a hotel, your cost per hour went down!
ReplyDeleteWill that $2.00 go towards your next concert?
ReplyDeleteI remember Peace Train and Moon Shadow. Not sure I'd have paid all that money to see him though. At least the return trip was pleasant and ya gotta love saving 2 bucks. You guys are a hoot.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool. I have his "Teaser and the Firecat" album, but I don't know anything he did if it's not on that one.
ReplyDeleteConcerts by anyone with a name and reputation are really expensive now. That's why I go mostly to a bunch of no-name bands where I can get in cheap.
My husband would like you a LOT!
ReplyDeleteYou're lucky, Crank. My visage is copyrighted and I usually get high double figure compensation for any publication of that countenance. But since you're a really nice dude too, I'll let the remuneration slide. -- But it's your turn to buy!
ReplyDeleteI was a huge Cat Stevens fan back in the day. I'm jealous you got to see him perform.
ReplyDeleteI liked Cat back before he became Yusuf, too. Seems like we saw him in a concert but my worn-out memory can't tell me for sure. I did have his Tea and the Tillerman album for years.
ReplyDeleteOh, baby! It's a wild world!
ReplyDeleteI had his Greatest Hits album. And no, my favorite song is NOT Hard-Headed Woman.
That sounds like such an adventure. I'm glad you saved the $2.00. Around here, that would buy you a 44 oz Diet Coke.
I actually love Cat Stephens. His song Father and Son puts chills on my arm every time I hear it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you know what they say - Fun ain't Cheap.
R
Omgosh, so many reasons to LOVE this post. First of all, I KNEW who you were talking about before you said Cat Stevens. Second, HUGE fan! So, so jealous and so, so happy you got to see him in concert!! And yes. The concert hall is absolutely gorgeous but.. CAT STEVENS??!! Wow, just wow! What a great plan by Mrs. C! AND she saved you two bucks in the end? Everything about your time in NYC AND this post = priceless!!! Yay you two! :D
ReplyDeleteI like Cat Stevens, too! But the concert prices these days are so outrageous that I always argue, "you could buy XXX number of CDs with the same amount of money." The only people I ever saw in concert was Bob Dylan (1978, in Germany) and Neil Diamond (1997, in Buffalo).
ReplyDeleteSmiling here! Of course, that extra 2 bucks was the sticking point. I'd love to see/hear Cat perform, even if I had to take the NYC subway.
ReplyDelete