Craigy On The Shores Of Lake Oprah

The mysterious folks at RSA News asked if I’d write up a short story about my recent mini-vacation to see Craig Ferguson doing his stand-up thang in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Which, if you know me, you’ll know that “short story” isn’t really in my vocabulary. But I’ll give it a shot!)

Waaaaaay back in December, Pabst Theater in Milwaukee announced that Craig would be bringing his Hot & Grumpy Tour to the shores of Lake Oprah the following March. Happiness abounds! Tickets purchased! About a month later, Pabst announced that the show would be moving to The Riverside Theater instead, due to high demand for tickets. When I got my new seat assignment, I was quite pleased, as it moved me up a few rows, from 7th to 4th.

*insert newspaper-flipping gif to note the passage of time here*

As March arrived, however, Craig was suddenly offered a role on a potential ABC dark-comedy pilot called “The King of 7B.” (Spoiler alert: This show did NOT get picked up.) This (as you probably know) meant that about two weeks’ worth of shows had to be either cancelled or rescheduled, so that Craig would be available for taping. Luckily, Milwaukee was one of those that was rescheduled, moving from March 22 to May 30. The new date actually worked out better for me due to *life stuff*, but it meant another two months of waiting.

*insert more newspaper flipping*

Finally, May came to a close and Craigy was on the horizon! I had decided to make a mini-vacation out of it (a whole two days), even though Milwaukee is only about an hour’s drive. I hit the road on Friday, and got to my hotel in the early evening, first stopping at a local cemetery (as I am wont to do) to look up a Great Great Grandfather. My plan was to just chill out at the hotel, and catch up on some much-needed sleep. Alas, *impending crisis* on the homefront meant I was going to be up half the night anyway. So I ordered some delivery from local institution Pizza Shuttle and settled in for some no sleep.

Saturday, May 30, was CRAIGY DAY for Milwaukee. The weather was what one might describe as “dreich,” if one were Scottish. Rainy, cold, windy, dreary. But I had packed a raincoat, and I *am* from Wisconsin, so I was not deterred from taking a stroll around the neighborhood in the early afternoon, and checking out the theater for the night’s event. Then back to the hotel to dry off and do my pre-show routine.

I arrived at The Riverside in plenty of time to get seated and enjoy Craig’s selection of Talking Heads tunes. The theater was very pretty, but had a weird cigar-y smell. (As I found out later, the theater is haunted, and the male entity that makes his home there has an unmistakable cigar smell. Creepy!) The two halves of Secretariat (Joseph and Ryan, doing double duty as tour managers) popped their heads out a few times to check on the crowd, and when everything was ready (a little bit late, but not by much), it was showtime.

First up was Craig’s opening act for the evening, Michael Palascak, who entertained us for about a half an hour. I had seen Michael open for Craig a few years ago in Hammond, Indiana, at the Horseshoe Casino (which is a horrible venue for comedy… that, or the casino crowd that night was just extra unpleasant), and thought he was hilarious that night, so I was very pleased to see him again. And once again, he had a great set! There’s just something about his delivery that just cracks me up. And his style is almost the complete opposite of Craig. Very low-key and stationary (But again – hilarious!), whereas Craig explodes with energy and simply CAN’T stand still.

And then it was time for the main event. With an introduction by Secretariat, Craig came bounding out on the stage to raucous applause and cheering, where he owned the stage – and the crowd – for the next 90 minutes. I had seen this routine many times before, and yet – as I’ve noted many times before – Craig somehow makes each performance feel fresh and new, like he’s just making shit up as he goes along. It really is amazing to watch. His energy never wavers, he always manages to work some local references in throughout — Tonight’s performance was heavily cheese-themed, both with Michael and Craig — and he keeps the audience alternately spellbound and in hysterics as he weaves a story around his big joke. I don’t know how he does it, but I’m very glad he does.

After the show, Michael was out in the lobby selling copies of his new CD, Job Opening, signing each one as he went along. I had the digital version already, but I did purchase the “hard copy,” and thanked him for the double-dose of entertainment. He’s a really sweet guy – if you ever get a chance to see him perform, GO.

So to make a long story short — Too late! — Craig was fabulous, Michael was awesome, and I had a great time. And this write-up is under 1000 words, so I think that qualifies as “short” for me. Haha!

Thanks again to Craig, for coming to Milwaukee!

(More/larger photos from this event can be found on my facetube page HERE.)

Chasing the Dragon

“Between safety and adventure, I choose adventure.”
— Craig Ferguson, “American on Purpose“

No, this post isn’t about heroin, or any other drug. Although, kind of, in a way, I guess… if you can consider a person a drug. (One who provides a similar kind of high, who gives you a nightly transcendental mind-blowing experience, and who leaves you craving more?) So okay, yes, this post is TOTALLY about drugs. And my drug of choice, as it were, is the inimitable Craig Ferguson. 

As I’m sure anyone reading this already knows, Craig has been the host of CBS’s The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, quietly making magic happen in the middle of the night for the past 10 years/seasons. I would argue that he is the greatest thing to happen to late night television since Ever. His unique Weltanschauung, his carefully crafted (yet seemingly random) deconstruction of the genre, his ability to speak effortlessly to any guest about any subject (and not just what they’ve come to plug), and his fearlessness in throwing anything and everything against the wall to see what sticks – the whole package, really – is something which I don’t think we’ll ever see in this particular genre of television again. (Peter Lassally was so right, all those years ago: Craig truly is “lightning in a bottle.”) And yet I had never been to Los Angeles to see this magic happen in person. (Not for lack of trying!) When Letterman announced his retirement in early April, I knew this must change, and I began to look at my options. When Craig announced in late April that he had chosen to leave at the end of the year, I kicked it into high gear. (Sure, Craig isn’t leaving our tellies completely, and has other projects he’s already working on. And, Craig being Craig, you KNOW those are going to be fantastic! But there’s just something special about TLLS.)

I had originally wanted to go in May, but the taping schedule just wasn’t working out with my schedule, so I focused on June. Hmmm…. June… what else is happening in June? Oh, right, the “How to Train Your Dragon 2” US premiere, on the 13th. Something I’ve been looking forward to for years! I did a little research and determined that the big L.A. “red carpet” premiere event would likely happen the weekend before the official US release date, so I decided to come for the first two weeks of June. I booked my hotel, a flight, and then waited impatiently for 1iota’s TLLS taping schedule to be updated. Jackpot! Not only would TLLS be taping both of those weeks, but the second week would be tapings every day. And the Dragons2 premiere would happen over the weekend I’d be there. Excellent.

I put my request for tickets to TLLS and crossed my wings. It took about 10 days before I got my first “ticket available” email. And then I heard nothing, until about two days before I was to leave, when five more “available” emails came through. Whew! That made six out of nine possible shows where I was pretty much guaranteed to get in. (Thanks, 1iota!) Meanwhile, I kept my travel plans pretty quiet on the tweety, telling only a couple of people privately. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, and I also didn’t feel it was necessary to “warn” Craig or any of TLLS peeps that I was coming, lest it even remotely in any way look like I was expecting or anticipating anything beyond the opportunity to witness the magic that is TLLS. Which, of course, I wasn’t.

Very quickly, the day of my flight arrived. On Sunday 1 June, I boarded at my local airport in the early evening, and arrived in Los Angeles – via Denver – around 11pm. Usually I prefer land travel – car or train – and this was the first time I’d flown in *since-dinosaurs-roamed* years, so I was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing. (Not for the reasons you might expect.) But I found the process to be easy peasy lemon squeezy. The flight went fine, my ears didn’t explode, and in short order, I was all tucked away in my hotel room at the Farmer’s Daughter, just across the street from CBS Television City. Excite!

On Monday, 2 June, I had a late breakfast at Tart, which is attached to the hotel. (French toast and insta-refills on iced tea, yay!) I then went across the street to CBS to wait in line for my first day on the job as “show enhancer.” I’ve read a few reviews/stories on the “experience” of going to a taping, but it didn’t quite prepare me for the actual process. So I’ve written a standalone post about it HERE. I tried to be as detailed as possible, for anyone else who’s thinking of going to one of the limited remaining tapings before Craig shuffles off to other pastures at the end of the year. (*weeps*).

While waiting in line, I met a lovely local-ish woman named Kay. We passed the time chatting about our favorite subject, laughing about our favorite clips, and encouraging some newbies of the show to check out some of the Craig Classics. Before we knew it, it was time to start the check-in process.  Monday’s show was with comedy legend Bob Newhart (“The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete Series”) and Constance Zimmer (“House of Cards”). It was so much fun to finally get to see how the sausage is made, as it were. I really enjoyed the whole process. Bob Oschack did an excellent job of fluffing and getting the audience to “give [him] a ten.” Eddie the Props Guy was both adorable and HILARIOUS. Michael arrived, looking all handsome and *in charge* in his headset. Sandra Harris (the luckiest camera operator in the world), Ron Paul, Jeff Arnold, George “the Wardrobe Lady” (sans his sticky wand)… ALL my favorites were there, right in front of me, in full-sized people form. And, of course, Craig. Fantastic! Sadly, the taping does come to an end. After Craig said his “thanks and goodbye,” the audience was kept a few minutes longer for some Geoff “pick-up” shots, and then our job was done. We filed back out of the studio, down the stairs (or elevator, if needs must), and were thrust back out into the harsh light of day – satisfied, yet wanting more. I didn’t dwell on that too long, though, because I had plans for the evening.

After the taping, I went back to the hotel for a quick change and a snack. And then it was off to the Fonda Theatre to see the fabulous Hugh Laurie and The Copper Bottom Band. As luck would have it, the Thursday before I left, Hugh was Craig’s guest, and Craig noted that Hugh and the band would be performing in Los Angeles on the 2nd. (How convenient! I, too, would be in Los Angeles on the 2nd, and there were still tickets available!) While waiting in line to get in, I glanced down to see Lucille Ball’s “Hollywood Walk of Fame” star (for her work in the field of television). I wasn’t planning on doing the touristy Walk of Fame thing, but I guess I can check that off the list anyway. Ha! Back to the main event, Hugh and The Copper Bottom Band put on a GREAT show. There was comedy, there was stripping, there was smooching. Oh, and an excellent selection of tunes. The audience were great (except for that one dude who kept yelling out “FUCK YEAH!!”), and we were encouraged to dance and clap along. (Shockingly, everyone clapped perfectly in time! Which, given the horrible clapping TLLS audience got called out for earlier in the day, was quite refreshing.) It was really a fun show, and lasted about 2-1/2 hours. If Hugh and TCBB are ever in your region, you should go. It’s well worth the cost of the ticket. Please, enjoy some crappy photos: On the ride back to the hotel, I asked the cab driver if there might be a grocery store open that late at night, so he found me a Ralphs. I grabbed a few “room provisions” (water, OMG WATER, peanut butter, bananas, orange juice… you know, all the essentials that don’t require cooking), and we continued on to the hotel, arriving in plenty of time to catch up on the tweets, and settle in for the 12:37am airing of that day’s TLLS.

Tuesday, 3 June: Much like Monday! French Toast, tea, waiting in line. I had Priority Tickets again today, and there were only about a six people in line by the time I arrived. One of whom was a dude who spent a lot of time bragging to his pals about how he was going to get them a personal chat with *someone* from the show. (I didn’t catch who.) Dude got more and more agitated when he and his pals weren’t being taken directly to said person RIGHT NOW, but he finally did get to meet person, after everyone got queued upstairs. And that person was? None other than Shadoe Stevens. Shadoe glad-handed with Dude and Pals for about a minute, then went on his merry way.

Today’s show was with Amanda Peet (on to promote her movie “Trust Me,” but who spoke mostly about “Game of Thrones,” which her husband writes) and Kit Harington (from “Game of Thrones,” but on to promote “How To Train Your Dragon 2”). Highlights from the show: Who let the dogs drive? “Sorry for swearing in front of your nearly baby.” “Throw in a tickle,” and Craig’s rusty trombone.

Wednesday, 4 June: “Linse, rather, repeat.” (For that to make sense, see if you can find the 8/24/2011 LLS. Ha!). I had Priority Tickets again today, and again ended up about sixth in line. I had planned to arrive sooner, but the hotel decided to move a pipe just as I was getting ready for Shower Time, so I got delayed by the whole no water thing. Boo, hotel. Booooooo. Ah, well. Still a great position. And by this time Warm Up Bob recognized me enough to tell me I was in charge of my section’s “ten” today. Heh.

Today was my first “double taping” day, so there was some added interest in getting to see how that worked. It was fun to time travel, and watch Craig scarfing candy through the entire thing. Heehee! The first guests out were Susan Sarandon (“Ping Pong Summer”) and Garrison Keillor (“Reader”), which would air that night. Highlights: Flyaway Bangs, cheese celebrities, randy, and pulling for the kings. *immature giggles*

For the second taping, we had Noah Wyle (“Falling Skies”) and Abigail Spencer (“Rectify”), which was scheduled to air on June 18. Highlights: Secretariat takes a chair, Judge Craig, and “flunkies.” Also, Geoff broke down and the Rhino took over.

After the show, I took a few photos on the way out – with permission from the Security guys, of course. One of them even helpfully pointed out a little TPIR time capsule, right in the little garden-y area where you get your bags checked. This is also the area where you’ll find the blue Craig poster that’s at the top of this post.

Thursday, 5 June: Today was the last taping for the week – another double. I would be attempting to get in on stand-by, so I made sure I was on line even earlier than usual (and I *still* wasn’t the first one there!). Kay, the woman I met on Monday, DID have a ticket for today, and she arrived not long after I did. We chatted as long as we could, and Kay very kindly offered to come into town on Friday to drive me around for some sight-seeing. (Yay!) Then it was time for the initial ticket check, and we had to part, as I was sent all the way to the back to start up the stand-by line. Right behind me were a nice Australian couple and their two handsome sons. Behind them was a very strange man who would not stop belching. And ever so slowly, he crept his way further and further ahead in the line. Everyone just kind of stepped aside to let him go ahead, so they wouldn’t have to have him belching in their ear anymore. By the time we made it through the security check, he’d moved almost a dozen spots ahead. Thankfully, when we were seated, I was back next to the Aussies and Belcher was off in another section. Yikes.

So, yes, I did get in just fine (whew!), and the guests for the day were John Waters (“Carsick”) and Yunjin Kim (“Mistresses”), for the show that would air that night, and Friend-Of-Show Carson Kressley, which would air on June 19 (along with Shantel Vansanten, who had taped her segment previously). Highlights of the Waters/Kim show included: Secretariat’s Monologue, Craig and Geoff mocking the “ooh”-y audience, and “angly.” Also, Craig promised to take us all on vacation with him to Japan in a couple of weeks. (Lies!)

Highlights from the 19 June show: Craig musses up Michael’s hair, the FCC’s birthday, Orono, and Lewis & Clark fight. Also… Craig may have had sex with the camera. *ahem*  After the show, I walked over to The Grove for supper. I needed a change of pace from the bananas and peanut butter, so I went with Maggiano’s. (I had been to the one in Chicago years ago, and wanted to see if it was as delicious as I remembered – it was!) Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the next day’s sight-seeing plans.

Friday, 6 June: Kay picked me up at the hotel, and we set off for the day’s adventure. First stop, because I’m weird, was the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City. I never pass up the chance to do a bit of genealogy while I’m travelling, and today I’d be looking for my Great-great Aunt Frances, who came out to Hollywood in the early 1900s to be a “movie actress.” Rumor was she appeared in the 1919 version of Daddy Long Legs with Mary Pickford, but of course anyone who might recognize her is long since gone, and they weren’t big on credits in those days. So we’ll just assume she was. At any rate, this area is where she settled down. We were able to locate her final resting place fairly quickly, with the help of the groundskeepers. I said “hello,” took a few photos, and we continued on our way.

Kay drove us via Sunset Boulevard to the Pacific Coast Highway. (Pro tip: Street signs with Cyn = Canyon. Der…. In my defense, we don’t have canyons around these parts!). We drove up a bit to Malibu, where we got out and enjoyed the view for a while. Then back down past Pacific Palisades to Santa Monica, where we stopped for dinner at Giorgio-Baldi. The food was delicious, and if you ever go, I’d definitely recommend opting to include dessert. The molten lava cake was quite possibly the greatest thing I’ve ever had in my mouth. To. Die. For. (Thanks, Kay!) Then back to the hotel to catch up on the tweets (Craig had spent the day doing press for HTTYD2, so there were a LOT!) and settle in for that night’s TLLS (Ricky Gervais and Keb Mo, which had been recorded the week before.)

Saturday, 7 June: Another free day, and the only thing on my agenda was to check out The Grove a bit more thoroughly. It was a particularly hot day, so I didn’t stay more than a few hours. But I had a good enough look around, and did a bit of shopping. Found the Barnes and Noble and couldn’t resist going in – which, for me, is usually a bad idea! I didn’t find either of Craig’s books (boooooooo!), but did end up with some other purchases, including a couple of puzzles to keep me occupied the rest of the night. Back to the hotel for some heavy-duty lounging around. Ahhh, perfect.

Sunday, 8 June: Today was the big Hollywood “red carpet premiere” for How To Train Your Dragon 2. With the help of my Taxi Magic app, I grabbed a cab out to Westwood, where the premiere would take place at the Regency Village and Bruin Theatres. The driver was quite friendly, and pointed out lots of things of interest along the way. You can find read the details of this event over HERE (Details which include some lovely photos of Kit Harington, Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, and Craig Ferguson – *dies*), but here’s my favorite photo from the day:

Monday, 9 June: Back on the job as Show Enhancer! Another priority ticket, and I was first in the line, for a change. While chatting with the women next to me, I discovered that EVERYONE loves 1iota Ryan. (How could you not? He’s adorable!) Heh. Anyway, for tonight’s airing, we had Bob Saget, substituting for the under-the-weather Dennis Miller (Hooray, friend-chat!) and Ashley Madekwe (“Salem”). Bob Oschack was especially thrilled that Saget would be on, because Saget was the one who gave Bob O his big break on the Oprah show. (Highlights: Lovely Top and Boney Bottom).

Also taping today were segments for the June 20 show: Maria Bello (“Third Person”) – EXCELLENT chat – and a newly done intro/outro for Bradley Trevor Greive (a live-animal segment that was taped previously). Highlight for me was the entire chat with Maria Bello. So good!

Tuesday, 10 June: Much of the same, with another priority ticket. Guests today were Megan Mullally (“Trouble Dolls”) and T.J. Miller (“How To Train Your Dragon 2”). Highlights: All of the Dragons talk OMG, plus Helicopter Pants and “Oofa.”

Wednesday, 11 June: Standby today, so I made sure to get there early. Even so, there were a few people in line already, including new pal Kay, and a gentleman named Rico. Rico was there with one of the postcard-like tickets that they hand out elsewhere in Los Angeles. These are the ones that say “ticket” on them, but they’re not really – it’s basically just a standby “ticket.” However, on the off chance that this “ticket” took any precedence over normal standby, Rico offered to make me his “plus 1” for the day. Sweet! As it turned out, everyone on standby got in that day, so it didn’t matter, but thanks anyway, Rico! Guests for that day’s airing were Jay Baruchel (“How To Train Your Dragon 2”) and Regina Hall (“Think Like A Man 2”). Lots of excellent Dragons talk! Plus some great knock-knock jokes, and Geoff’s battery had issues. (Let it go, Pedro.)

During the tweetsmail segment, Craig supposed that a German tweeter must be illegally downloading the show off the internet, which, for legal reasons – he does not endorse (He really doesn’t give a crap – ha!). What you didn’t get to see – and what I thought was hilarious – was Geoff’s suggestion that people just watch the show on the CBS website… because that’s sooooo easy to navigate. (BWAH!) Also cut was a discussion Craig had with Michael, wondering if Michael was mad that Craig was plugging his OWN movie so heavily. Heeheehee!  Also taped today was a segment with comedian Mindy Rickles, which would air on June 24:

After the taping, Kay and I decided to go out to eat at Locanda Veneta. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because that’s one of the restaurants that CBS sometimes sends their audience members to. It’s a quaint little place, but delicious Italian food and excellent service. Well worth the drive! (Thanks again, Kay!)

Thursday, 12 June: My last stand-by day and another double-taping. Kay was with me again today, and we had the pleasure of meeting Shari, mom to Minecraft-Jacket Matt, who appeared in the 1/11/2013 cold open. She had some great stories to tell about that day! (If you’ve been around for a while, and as mentioned in the RSA News article I just linked to, you’ll also know that Shari is the woman who made a tattoo out of Craig’s signature on her neck. Awesome!) Guests for tonight’s show were Michelle Monaghan (“True Detective”) and Greg Proops (“The Smartest Man In The World”). They also taped Warm Up Bob’s routine today (as Craig had suggested they do on yesterday’s show). The cold open for tonight was previously taped on May 30. Highlights: American eggs, and Michael’s bathroom-related tardiness.

Also on today’s schedule were segments with Guy Pearce and Andi Osho for the August 4 show. Plus musical guests Ben and Ellen Harper, which would be added to the June 13 show. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey!

After the show, I went back to the hotel for a bit of a rest, and then it was a quick walk up the street to take in the pre-midnight showing of “How To Train Your Dragon 2” in 3-D at Pacific Theatres at The Grove. Needless to say – but I will – I thought the movie was FANTASTIC. And the theatre was super comfortable. Nice cushy seats that reclined a little bit, armrests that go up and down, plus plenty of leg room between the rows. And you get to select your seat when you purchase your ticket, so no standing around in the dark trying to adjust your eyes, so you can see what seats are still open.

Not gonna lie – I may have clapped a little bit and let out a quiet “yay” when Craig’s name appeared in the credits. I was a bit shocked at first that nobody got up to leave when the credits started running, but then there was a sudden burst of cheering and applause, and I remembered: Oh, I’m in L.A. These people probably have friends who worked on the movie. Ha!! It was really refreshing to not be the last person to leave the theatre. And a lot of fun to hear the other viewers having some post-show analysis on their way out. Ah, these are my kind of people! I made it back to the hotel with seconds to spare before that night’s airing of TLLS. Good timing!

Friday, 13 June: My very last taping day. (*weeps uncontrollably*). I had priority tickets today, but still make sure I got there early enough to start the line. Heh. Today’s taping was with Max Greenfield, for the show scheduled to air tonight (along with the Ben and Ellen Harper musical segment taped yesterday). They also taped Bob’s warmup routine again, highlights of which they did air during that night’s monologue. Haha!

Also taping this day was Diane Kruger, for a show scheduled to air on August 5. (With one of the greatest email segments ever! Hashtag Enemy Of The Queen)

All too quickly, the taping was over, and it was getting to the point where I would have to leave the studio for one last time. *weeps more* While they were doing the “pick-up” shots for that day, I was distracted trying to figure out how I could discretely ask 1iota Ryan if I could maybe stick around until the other sections had gone, so that I could properly say goodbye to Bob. But before I knew it, our section was given the go-ahead to leave. I was in my “usual” front right seat, and as I was gathering up my bag – and my courage – something quite unexpected happened. (I’m still trying to wrap my head around it! And I wasn’t going to mention it, but it was made kind of public on the tweety. Anyway…) Ryan got my attention, reached over, and handed me a TLLS mug, signed by Craig. Ho. Ly. Crap. I mean…. whaaaaaaat? Whyyyyyy? *still flabbergasted*

I was so not expecting that – especially since I hadn’t exactly tweeted to any of the show peeps that I was even there – and it pretty much rendered me speechless. (Those of you who have met me might wonder what the difference is between normal me and speechless me!) As I discovered later, it was Josh who had found out I was there, and he very kindly – despite our “differences” – took it upon himself to let Craig know and arranged for this unexpected delivery. (Thanks, Josh!) Of course, since my mind had just been blown, I completely forgot to ask Ryan about saying goodbye to Bob. But no matter – as I got to the top of the stairs, there was Bob, waiting to say goodbye to ME. *boggles* I’m sure I babbled incoherently, but I think I did manage to get several thank yous out. I hope. (If not: Thanks, Bob!) I floated back to the hotel on a cloud of “what the holy fuck just happened,” had a quick bite to eat from my room provisions, and then secured a cab for a trip out to the Nuart Theatre on Santa Monica, for the Los Angeles premiere of Kickstarter-funded “Korengal.”

“Korengal,” if you’re not familiar with it, is sort of a companion piece to the Academy Award-nominated “Restrepo,” from Tim Heatherington and Sebastian Junger, which “chronicles the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley.” A bit of a different mood than what I had just come from! I was initially interested in “Restrepo” because one of my nephews was stationed in the Korengal Valley and was “attached” in a support role to Second Platoon, whose lives (and sometimes deaths) were being documented, so it was an interesting glimpse into the fairly hellish conditions that he and these others soldiers dealt with day in and day out. “Korengal” continues these soldiers’ stories, but from a more introspective viewpoint. Anyway, the film was excellent – every bit as difficult and thought-provoking as I expected. And we were treated to a long Q&A session after the film with Director Sebastian Junger. (Side note: this theatre was also very comfortable, again with lots of leg room and the slightly reclining seats. Is this the norm in L. A.? They really need to build some like this in my region!)

Once more back to the hotel, to begin packing for my flight out on Saturday, while I waited for that night’s TLLS to begin. On Saturday morning, 14 June, I had one last breakfast at Tart, packed up the rest of my things, and cabbed my way back to the airport. The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful. LAX was surprisingly easy to navigate, and we had a slight delay leaving Los Angeles, due to hail in Denver. Plus an extra hour or so to fly around a major storm between Denver and home. But I made it back in one piece, as did my luggage, so all-in-all, I consider it a success.

Would I do it again? Absolutely!

***

And now comes the part where I say thanks for reading and apologize for this being so damn long. But if you stuck it out this far, I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂

Many thanks to:

• Craig, for sticking around TLLS through the end of the year, and for being one of you. I’m very grateful to have had a chance to finally see you work in this environment. You have a gift, and what you do with that gift really is a thing of beauty. I can’t wait to see what exciting new ventures you have up your sleeves next. And, oh yeah… thanks for the mug. 🙂

• Josh, for providing many laughs, and for putting aside aforementioned “differences.”  **

• Bob, for being so kind and welcoming every single day, and for making the effort to catch me on my way out. I can’t stress enough how pleased I was that you did that, and how much I appreciate what you do.

• The lovely folks at 1iota for wrangling the audience with professionalism and competence, and really embracing the kind and friendly atmosphere that permeates TLLS. You guys are great. Special thanks to 1iota Ryan (because you’re just so darned adorable, and I *love* catching your hearty laugh during the show, even now).

• The staff at Farmer’s Daughter and Tart. Everyone was super nice and welcoming, and the Tart staff were really on the ball with anticipating the need for a tea refill. I’ve said it often: My tippage is based solely on whether or not I have to ask for a refill. If it appears like magic, the tip goes up. 😉

• Last, but certainly not least: Kay, for the lovely conversations, the delicious meals, your extreme generosity in driving me around, and for the extra little gifties. Really happy to have met you – thanks so much! 🙂

** (And for any of you who think I’m only saying something nice because of Josh’s thoughtful gesture, you and your lazy mind can suck it, because you clearly have made no effort to understand (or are simply incapable of understanding) me or the situation or the complicated series of events leading to said “differences.” Josh and I are good. Deal.)

The Late Late Show Ballet

“Ballet is an incredibly difficult, beautiful art form that takes a
lot of training, a lot of time, and a lot of hard work.”
— Sutton Foster

As part of a recent trip to Los Angeles (which I wrote about HERE, I sat in as a “show enhancer” at several tapings of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. I’ve read a few reviews/stories on the “experience” of going to a taping, but it didn’t quite prepare me for the actual process. So I’ll try to be as detailed as possible, for anyone else who’s thinking of going for their first time to one of the limited remaining tapings before Craig shuffles off to other pastures at the end of the year. (*weeps*)

First thing you need to do is visit the 1iota website for The Late Late Show and put in your request for tickets. They are free, but you’ll want to get your request in early for best chances of being granted a “Priority” ticket. If you don’t get a Priority ticket, don’t worry — you can still come by as a General ticket holder or on stand-by, and you will likely get in. (Though it’s more difficult during the summer, and may become more difficult as the days dwindle down.)

The first taping I went to was a single-taping day, so the Priority Ticket noted that “check-in” time was 3:30, but that you should arrive 30 minutes before that, to ensure your priority status. (They recommend planning to be there 30-45 minutes early, in case you have traffic issues.) I arrived around 2pm, and there were already a dozen or two people in line. (On a double-taping day, the check-in time will likely be earlier, and the time can vary even on a “single” day, so pay attention to your ticket and adjust your schedule accordingly.) Here’s the general timeline for each:

Single Taping:
3:30pm: Ticket check-in and security scan.
4pm: House rules and show info speech.
4:15pm: Seating begins in studio.
4:30pm: Audience warm-up.
5pm – 6pm: Taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

 

Double Taping:
3:00pm: Ticket check-in and security scan.
3:30pm: House rules and show info speech.
3:45pm: Seating begins in studio.
4:00pm: Audience warm-up.
4:30pm – 5:15pm: First taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
5:25pm – 6:10pm: Second taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Through experience, I learned that people generally start arriving between 1:15-1:30. If you’re one of the early arrivals, there won’t be anything to indicate where you should wait, so go to the main driveway on Fairfax, and start lining up about where the wall begins to the right of that driveway. (Where these good people are waiting, in this Google map street view.)

It doesn’t matter if you’re Priority, General, or Stand-By at this point. Just line up as you arrive, and 1iota will sort you out later. If you have a ticket, make sure you bring that along. (They can scan the QR code on your phone, if need be, but that delays the process a bit.) Also, regardless of whether or not you have a ticket, make sure you BRING YOUR ID (government/state issued ID or passport) that shows your birth date. You MUST be 18 or older to get in – no exceptions.

While you’re waiting in line, keep in mind that it is HOT and there is virtually NO shade, and you will likely be waiting there for a while. So be safe: wear sunscreen, sunglasses, and bring a nice wide-brimmed hat or umbrella. (Ones that fold up easily into a small bag.) [Remember, there is no such thing as a healthy tan! A tan is skin damage, and it can kill you! Sticky cares /\.] You may also want to bring water or something else to drink while you wait.

At some point, the 1iota folks will arrive to put up the Craigy-faced “Get Free Tickets Here” flag, and do their initial ticket check. If you have a Priority ticket, you can stay right where you are. If you don’t, they’ll direct you to start a new line at the back. You’ll remain in the same order in which you arrived, so if you have a general ticket, or are on stand-by, you’ll want to arrive early to give yourself the best chance to get in to see the taping. (Though, it seemed they were always able to get everyone in who showed up, on the days I was there.) The 1iota folks may also come with a wheely bin of big beautiful TLLS umbrellas that they will hand out to Priority ticket holders, while supplies last. (You do need to turn them back in later.) The 1iota folks are super nice, so if you have any questions at all, just ask them.

Since you’ll spend a lot of time in this line, here’s the view to the right…:

…and to the left. Note the close proximity of the Farmer’s Daughter hotel (the blue building between the light pole and the tree):

After a bit more waiting, the 1iota people will be ready to officially begin the check-in process. You hand back your umbrella, they will check your ID, scan your ticket (if you have one), and send you on through the gates to the “Bob Barker Promenade.” If you have brought along a cell phone, camera, or other electronic devices, you will be required to check them with Security before you go in. You can pick them up after the taping. To facilitate the process, take off any bulky jackets, empty your pockets, have your purse/bags unzipped and ready for inspection, and get your electronics ready to hand in.

The Bob Barker Promenade is a nice covered area with benches. Once you clear security (and turn in any electronics), you’ll be seated on the benches, one row at a time, in the order in which you arrived. You’ll be here for about 45 minutes. Once your row of benches is full, you’ll be allowed to use the bathroom, and shop at the tiny CBS Gift Shop. Both of which you should do NOW, because the Gift Shop is closed after the taping, and they would prefer if you didn’t get up during the taping to use the bathroom, because that’s an interruption. Occasionally someone with a CBS food-wagon will come through to sell you drinks and snacks. (It’s pricey, and you can’t take the food/drinks into the studio with you, so plan accordingly.)

Once everyone has cleared Security and has been seated (about 30 minutes), someone from 1iota will give you the House Rules and Show Info speech. (Usually it’s 1iota Ryan, who is a super sweet, adorable boy-next-door, and you WILL fall in love with him. You too, ladies!) Remember, you’re there to be a “show enhancer,” so it’s important that you pay attention to these House Rules. Once completed, you’ll march down, row-by-row, along the side of the building to the audience entrance, and up four flights of stairs, where you’ll line up in a hallway, again in the order in which you arrived. The flights of stairs are quite long, so if for any reason you cannot climb the stairs, there will be a CBS Page in a red coat inside the building who will take you up in an elevator. Don’t worry about losing your place in line – once you’re upstairs, you just need to find your place again, and you’re all set.

After waiting in this next line for another 5-10 minutes, you’ll be led down the corridors to the studio entrance. Here you’ll be greeted by the also super-nice warm-up comedian, Bob Oschack, go up another small set of stairs, and be directed to your seat. Hmmm… “super nice” seems to be the status quo at The Late Late Show. I suspect that attitude starts from the top. 🙂

A note about seating: Because the studio is so small, there really aren’t any “bad” seats. The only exception might be the seats in the very front-center, because you’ll be behind the “monologue” camera, and since Craig stands so close to it, you’ll only be able to see his feet, or maybe the top of his hair. But you don’t really get a choice of where you sit, so just enjoy.

You’ll be treated to several musical segments from past shows (among them Craig’s lip-sync to “Oops, I Did It Again”) while everyone gets seated. Then Bob begins his warm-up routine, the majority of which is spent teaching us how to “give me a 10.” (Hint: There will be clapping. Lots of it!) Geoff is introduced, we get a quick sizzle reel, and then KABOOOOOOOOOM! Here come Craig!

As has been noted elsewhere, the first segment to be taped is the monologue. If it’s a double-taping day, Craig will then go back offstage, and come out again for the second show’s monologue. THEN he does the “cold open” segment, the tweetsmails segment (if they have one that day), then the guests come out, and then the closing segment is taped (as needed). You may also get a musical guest or comedian, to be inserted into a later show. For a double-taping, they then whip into the cold open for THAT show, and so on. It’s astonishing how quickly they move through the segments, and how little planning goes into those cold opens and closings. Craig just has an idea and they go with it. Brilliant!

Once Craig’s job is done, he takes off. The audience is kept for a while longer – usually there are “pick-up shots” to do with Geoff or Secretariat. (I suspect a ruse, to give Craig and the guests a chance to get out of the building without being accosted. Ha!) The taping ends around 6 – 6:15pm (about the same for either a single or a double taping), and you’ll be directed back out of the studio and back down the stairs (Or elevator, if needed – wait for the Pages!) to where you came in. If you did not check your cell phone, you can just proceed out the door. If you do have to collect your electronics, have your claim stub ready and get in the Security line downstairs.

One thing that surprised me during my first taping was that I sometimes found it difficult to hear the guests. Craig is used to speaking loudly, but the guests are not. So depending on where you’re seated, you might have difficulty hearing them. I believe they do have hearing-assist devices — if you generally have hearing issues anyway, and think you’ll need an assist, let the 1iota folks know ahead of time (as soon as you request your tickets), as you won’t be able to do it during the show. Also, if you have other “accessibility” needs, you must let 1iota know after you requests your tickets so they can make accommodations.

I think that about covers everything! There are relatively few tapings left, so if you love this show as much as I do, and you’re able to get yourself to Los Angeles, I urge you to do so. Even if just for a day. Watching Craig and crew make this show is like watching a beautiful ballet (without all the pretentiousness), and it’s a great privilege to be able to see it happen.

Waiting For Dragons

As part of a recent trip to Los Angeles (which I wrote about HERE), I had a chance to “attend” the Los Angeles premiere of “How To Train Your Dragon 2” at the Regency Village and Bruin Theatres in Westwood.  The event was scheduled to be from 4pm to 8pm on Sunday, June 8, 2014, but it was suggested that regular peeps arrive at least two hours before that, in order to watch the “red carpet” proceedings. Here are a few “atmosphere” shots from the event:

I arrived shortly before 2pm, and there were already several people camped out across the street (autograph hunters, mostly). Around 3:30 the principal players in the film started to arrive. Kit Harington, Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, and Craig Ferguson all kindly crossed the street to “visit” with the regular peeps hanging out behind the barricade, signing photos and posing for selfies. As mentioned, many of those “regular peeps” were autograph hunters, but there were also quite a few average folks who happened to be in town and either knew this was happening, or happened upon it by accident, so it was quite a treat for us that these “celebrities” stopped over. Photos to follow…

Kit Harington:

Jay Baruchel:

Gerard Butler:

And – saving the best for last, IMO…

Craig Ferguson:

And this is a really lame image of Gobber and Sticky, but I’m quite pleased at getting it signed. (Though I see Craig’s “I’m going to sign as many things in as short a time possible” signature is quite different than his normal one. Hahaha!)

Riding The Rails

“Time is only linear for engineers and referees.”
— Craig Ferguson, Between the Bridge and the River

“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.”
— Robert Burns, To a Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough

In October 2012, I had wonderful opportunity to make my first ever visit to New York City, catch two Craig Ferguson stand-up shows, and be in the audience for a *fantastic* interview with Craig at the Paley Center for Media. But before I get to those details, let’s take a stroll back in time. Back… back… back… [Cue squiggly remembering effects.]

On what seems like a lifetime ago — Dec 6, 2011 — Craig tweeted this exciting announcement:

Radio City Music Hall! Holy crackers! I didn’t think there’d be any chance that I’d be able to make the trip out to New York City to see the show, but I thought, “Well, let’s just see what kind of ticket I *might* have gotten.” When the extra-special pre-sale opportunity went live, I — and thousands of other Craig peeps — hopped online to nab a ticket. I could barely believe my eyes when Ticketmaster pulled up an Orchestra Pit Row AAA ticket for me. Front row… at Radio City Music Hall? How could I possibly pass that up?? I jumped on the ticket, determined that I would somehow make this trip work.

I always prefer a road-trip over anything else, but I didn’t relish the thought of having to drive through Pennsylvania. “Been there, done that,” as they say. (Six hours in one state, when that state is not your destination, is about five hours too many!) Plus, I was sure the parking costs in NYC would be astronomical, and finding my way around more than a bit challenging, so I decided the next closest thing to driving was to take the train. Sure, I could have simply hopped a flight to NYC and been there in a few hours, but where’s the fun in that?

Within days of the RCMH tickets going on sale, and still unsure that I’d even be able to go, I booked a spot on Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited, and secured a hotel room for my stay in New York. (Hey, I could always cancel them later, right?) I’ve taken several rides on the Amtrak over the years – west to Seattle, east to Boston, and south to San Antonio, with a couple of short rides to and from Chicago thrown in. I have had many good experiences with Amtrak — as well as many horrific experiences! But there’s one thing you can definitely say about taking the train: It’s always memorable.

With tentative plans made, I put all that aside and got back to my normal daily routine. (With a super fun Craigy-related road-trip thrown in, about which I wrote here). Months went by and it finally came time to start making some firm plans.

Meanwhile, an opportunity arose for me to travel to Reno (ugh, *Reno*) for a Family Event in September. I had a lot of vacation time to use up, so I was going to make this one a definite road-trip. In looking at the map, it occurred to me that Los Angeles was “only” a day’s drive away…

I could go to L.A. first, I thought, sit in on as many tapings of The Late Late Show as I could get into, and THEN head to Reno. “Choose adventure,” right? I asked around a bit, and found out from Josh “Robot” Thompson that TLLS would only be taping Monday through Wednesday of the week I wanted to go. “Bummers!”, I thought at first. And then a bell went off: Duh! Craig would be doing a three-day run of stand-up shows at the Venetian in Las Vegas, starting that Thursday. How convenient! I could watch three tapings, pop over to Vegas, meet my nephew there and see Craig’s performance with him, and then we could drive together to Reno for the Family Event. Icing on the cake: I was able to secure some nice VIP front row seats to that Thursday’s show. VIP! A guaranteed meet-and-greet with the man, himself. Great! Even although it would feel a bit like whoring him out, at least I’d FINALLY have the chance to say hello and thank him in person for, well, for so many things.

What could possibly go wrong??

Thanks for asking, Self! Just weeks before I was to go on my LA-Vegas-Reno road-trip, the fickle finger of fate decided to diddle me, and threw about six weeks’ worth of medical stuff my way. (The hell?) Which, of course, meant that I had to cancel that entire L.A./Reno trip; from *flail* to *wail* in an instant! Luckily, I was able to find someone at this late time to make use of those VIP tickets, and my nephew was still able to go, also with a VIP ticket. Both parties were kind enough to use some of their meet-and-greet opportunity to let Craig know of my “plight” (Though neither of them gave me any juicy details on the meets! What’s up with that?!), and Craig was kind enough to send a couple of get well wishes my way:

Thanks, Chief! :’)

I finally got cleared to travel a few days after the Vegas show (Ugh, too late!), but with restrictions on lifting, and with a boatload of medications to take. Would I be able to manage a journey to NYC and not overdo things and make myself sick (again) in the process? I decided yes, I would continue on with my plans, making sure to work in plenty of rest along the way.

While I was still knee-deep in medical issues, The Paley Center for Media announced a special “Evening with Craig Ferguson,” to take place on October 4 – two days before Craig’s Radio City show. I didn’t have net access and/or ability to grab a ticket for myself, but happily, I found out later that my Watson was able to secure a ticket to that event for me. Hooray! Knowing the Amtrak is notorious for running late, I made sure to alter my reservations so that I’d arrive in NYC in plenty of time to make the Paley event. “What the hell,” I thought. “I’ll come in on Monday already, have the whole week to hang out with my Watson and look around.”

Again, what could possibly go wrong??

As the big departure date was mere days away, I received word that Watson’s Sweetie got the call for a Very Important Volunteer Position In A Very Dangerous Place, and had to be in said place almost immediately. And Watson would be going along, at least part-way, to see him off properly (As she should!). This meant that we would not even be able to MEET, much less hang out together. Noooooooooooooooooooo!!! [Cue much wailing and weeping.] Alas, I would have to explore NYC on my own. *back of hand to forehead, dramatically* I would miss Watson terribly, but I vowed to soldier on and make the best of things. And really, there was no time to wallow in despair — I had a train to catch!

On Sunday, 30 September, I drove to the local train station and hopped on board the eastbound Empire Builder (an hour late, naturally). Destination: Chicago’s Union Station. I was THRILLED to see that my attendant for this leg of the journey would be none other than Rolando Castaneda! Hooray! I was lucky enough to have him as my attendant from Seattle to Chicago a few years ago, and he is by far one of the best you’ll find. Normally, most of the seating on the Empire Builder is on the upper level of the train, but Rolando noted my recuperative pitifulness and offered to seat me in a roomette on the lower level, across from a sprightly and chatty elder lady on her way home from a visit with her 90-year-old sister in Idaho. I didn’t get to take my planned nap, but the lady and I had a nice conversation, so I guess that’s good, too. Upon arriving in Chicago, Rolando again made sure that I was well taken care of, and arranged for a Red Cap ride straight to the Metropolitan Lounge, where I would await the train to New York.

Since I had a few hours before the next train would depart, I checked my bags and wandered around Union Station a bit. I had some supper, and had no less than three people come up begging for cash for a train ticket / a bus ticket / some food. One of the women who was looking for food managed to find some from another source, and then decided to sit down next to me to eat it, while running down her laundry list of woes. The hell? Time for me to walk around elsewhere! I ventured outside a bit to get my bearings, and noticed I was just a couple blocks away from this guy:

Hello, Sears– I mean, Willis Tower! You’re not my most favorite building in Chicago, but you’re still at least more interesting than the monstrosity that Trump built where the sweet little tugboat of a Sun Times building used to be. *bittercakes*

Soon it came time to head back to the lounge to await boarding on the Lake Shore Limited. Destination: New York City’s Penn Station! I would be travelling in one of Amtrak’s sleeping car “roomettes” for this journey, and us sleeping car peeps got to board early, and enjoy a complimentary cheese, crackers, grapes, and wine welcoming event. Thanks, Amtrak! I skipped the wine, of course, but the rest was just the right amount of snack to get you through until breakfast.

The sleeping cars on the Lake Shore Limited are a bit different from those on the Empire Builder. These cars are all on one floor, with much narrower hallways, and each roomette has its own toilet and fold-down sink. How convenient! (And also a bit “ew,” but at least then you don’t have to worry about inconsiderate fellow passengers making a complete mess of things.) The seats fold down to make an adequate sleeping surface, and if you are travelling in twos, there’s an upper bunk that slides down, with its own window to watch the countryside roll by.

To make a long story short — TOO LATE! — I arrived in New York City the following evening. First order of business: Find a cab to hotel. Then: shower, food, sleep. Mission accomplished, without getting mugged or murdered!

After a good night’s sleep, I set out to explore the immediate area on my own. First destination was Radio City Music Hall, a couple of blocks away, just to get my first in-person look at Craig’s name on the marquee. Excite!!

I checked out the nearby NBC “experience store,” and was surprised to find some Doctor Who merchandise. Checkout Dude said he was equally surprised when he first started working there, but found it was because the show briefly aired on an NBC-owned cable network. Who knew? Checkout Dude admitted to being quite a Who nerd, and showed off his Who-themed t-shirt and dalek belt buckle. Nice!! 😀 It started to rain a bit, so I went back to the hotel for a nice nap. But not before I found myself a handy 24-hour pharmacy (Just in case!) and a nearby grocery store, to stock up on room provisions. Hooray! No more exorbitantly priced hotel room-service!

On Wednesday, 3 October, Watson pulled a few strings and arranged to have the ticket for Craig’s Paley Center interview picked up and delivered to me by one of her friends, who would then be “assigned” to hang out with me for the rest of my stay, and take me around to all the points of interest. A sort of Surrogate Watson. Ha ha! I met up with her friend — a cute-as-a-button lady, whom I shall call Hudson (Who would vehemently dispute the cute-as-a-button description, but that’s how I sees it, so suck it, Hudson! Ha ha!), who *assured* me she was shy and not at all talkative. I took receipt of the Paley ticket for the next day, and then we went out for a “speed date,” to see if we would get along. I mean… TWO shy quiet peeps who’ve never met before? How could this possibly work? But I trusted Watson’s judgement, and off we went!

Hudson started us off with a visit to Rockefeller Center, where the big Christmas tree lighting and the ice skating happens — which is much smaller than it looks on the tee vee! A few minutes into our “speed date,” I was starting to doubt that whole “shy/quiet” thing, because Hudson turned out to be a regular chatterbox! And hilarious, to boot! All of which suited me just fine, I must say. Mixed in with all the little bits of history that Hudson was giving me about each location, we discovered that we had a mutual dislike of “modern” art and architecture, and had the same opinions on Geoff, “Beth,” MacBecca, and that damn black floor. Ha!

We walked over to St Patrick’s Cathedral, which had its beautiful neo-gothic architecture all covered up with scaffolding, with not a lick of sunshine to show off the gorgeous stained glass windows. We strolled past a few other pretty buildings (and scoffed at the ugly big clunky glass and steel no-character buildings), then went on a sooper sekrit low-level reconnaissance mission. With one or two… or three… wrong turns thrown in. LOL! After a few hours of wandering around, we strolled our way back to the hotel, talking most of the time about our favorite subject — the Chief.

Hudson and I declared the speed date a resounding success, and made plans to meet up on Thursday and maybe do a little more sight-seeing before the Paley event. One small hitch… something else that Hudson and I both have in common: Night-owlism. Heh. With both of us staying/getting up late, and throwing in an unexpected incident with the express bus, we had to cancel any sight-seeing plans for that day, and just meet up at the Paley event. Which, honestly, was fine with me. The extra rest was welcome. By the time I got up, had my late breakfast, futzed around on the internet, and took a nap, it was already time to head down to Paley.

I arrived at Paley Center plenty early, but there was already a line of about thirty people in front of me, waiting to be allowed in. I recognized the large group at the front as “RSA” members, many of whom I’d met before, but, not wanting to be the douchebag that jumps the line, I stayed where I was. I don’t think Paley was quite prepared for the number of people who showed up early – ha! – and after a while, they brought everyone into another room in the building to wait patiently for their tickets to be available, and to be seated. Of course, I already had my ticket, but I still stayed in my place in line. I didn’t think it would be fair to those who made an effort to arrive before me, to stick myself in a position where I could get a better seat than I was rightfully entitled to.

After we were seated and waiting, I had a chance to meet the mysterious and lovely Malinky. Mal insisted that we dine together after the event, with the group of RSA. I was a little apprehensive — I’m not really comfortable hanging out in large crowds — but Mal assured me that we could be awkward and anti-social together and everything would be fine. The room began to fill up, and Hudson arrived just in the nick of time. Too late for us to sit together, but she still got a very good seat.

“An Evening with Craig Ferguson” was nothing short of spectacular. Craig looked quite handsome in black, with some fun Kermit the Frog socks, and his glasses hanging off a front pocket. Plus… lovely hair. A little too short on the sides, but still lovely. (Craig has some seriously GREAT hair. It’s darn near a crime to see it covered up with butter, or cropped so short that it may as well not be there at all!)

Craig was interviewed by the delightful David Itzkoff of the New York Times, who definitely did his homework. David had a lot of wide-ranging questions — I particularly enjoyed all of the gravy-related ones… Ha! — and he was able to keep up and adapt whenever Craig went off on a tangent, as Craig is wont to do. Interspersed throughout the interview were some clips of Craig’s previous television roles, as well as bits and pieces from The Late Late Show. I don’t know if Craig had a little monitor up front to watch with us, but I noticed he did not turn around to watch on the big screen behind him, and when the lights came back up, he looked a bit humbled (or perhaps embarrassed) by the audience’s positive reactions throughout. (Don’t tell Craig this, but I totally “awwww”ed him in my head. Awwwww.)

Also “in the house” at Paley was the always-lovely Michael Naidus, Producer of The Late Late Show. Michael apparently worked at Paley Center back in the day, before it was even called Paley Center, so this was a bit of a homecoming for him. It was nice to see the interaction between Craig and Michael in person. Warms the cockles to know that TLLS family is always so supportive of each other. (More awwwwww.)

You can view a brief clip of the event, provided by The Paley Center below. (And if you’re one of those people whining to Craig on twitter about the lack of puppets lately, be sure to pay attention about 1:30 minutes in. Ha!) In case the clip doesn’t show properly, you can find it here: http://www.paleycenter.org/2012-fall-craig-ferguson/  You can also now purchase a DVD of his event, plus the “Evening With…” Paley Center event from May 2012 that took place in Los Angeles here: http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Ferguson-Center-Special-Two-Event/dp/B00FBQ38VQ/

I don’t know how long the event actually lasted — maybe about 45 minutes? — but it wasn’t long enough for me. Getting to see thoughtful, contemplative, and complicated Craig up close and in person was truly a delight. I’m sad it didn’t last longer — but then again, it would never have been long enough for me! Craig had already had a long day of interviews under his belt, but still managed to look fresh as a daisy, and provided plenty of food for thought, so I am extremely grateful that he agreed to do this event, and that I got the chance to attend it. (I can’t thank you enough for arranging everything, Watson!)

After the event, I hooked up with Hudson for a bit of chat inside the building, and to thank David Itzkoff for his excellent interviewing. By the time we made our way out to the front, Craig was already out there, standing in a mob of fans, who were asking for autographs and photo ops. Hudson and I watched the action from the edges, quietly swooning, until he hopped into his SUV and rode away. (Bye, Chief! See you in a couple of days!) Since I had been invited to dine with Malinky, Hudson and I parted ways for the evening, but made plans to get together again on Friday for more sightseeing.

Dinner this evening was at Soba Nippon, just two doors away from the Paley Center. It being a Japanese restaurant, there was, of course, a lot of seafood on the menu… and Sticky doesn’t eat stuff that lives in water! Malinky kindly walked me through the menu, finding several land-animal or meat-less food options to choose from, and I finally decided on the very “safe” looking Chicken Teriaki. Which was delicious! Mal and I mostly chatted amongst ourselves — happily awkward and anti-social, as promised —  and then parted ways, as everyone went back to their homes and/or hotels. (Thanks, Mal, for the good eats and convo! Was great to finally meet you!)

On Friday, 5 October, I met up with Hudson again, and we set out on another walking tour. We thought we might take one of the hop on/off tour buses around, but could never find anyone that would give us an answer as to when the last bus went on tour. We eventually ended up in Times Square, surrounded by a sea of humanity, and being bombarded from every side by gaudy flickering lights, electronic billboards, and every possible type of street performer you could imagine: Edward Scissorhands, Puss in Boots, Woody from Toy Story, several sets of Elmo and Cookie Monster, random dudes in underwear… My personal favorite was this guy:

Happily, we found at least ONE building with character tucked away behind all the crass commercialism — yaaaaaay!

We then made our way to Rockefeller Center for our scheduled tour of “Top of the Rock.” The actual process of figuring out where to get a ticket, getting herded to the elevators, and then trying to find your way around up top left something to be desired. Signage was inadequate, all around. The bathrooms on the entry level were out-of-order, but we were informed there were more at the top. But where?? After taking in the views for a while, we tried to find the mysterious bathrooms that everyone ASSURED us existed. There were signs pointing to them, but they all led to a steep set of stairs. The hell? Around and ’round we went, and eventually found an elevator hidden away, but again, no clear signage of where the damn bathrooms were! We reported the mysteriously missing bathrooms to one of the security guys, and — after staring at us for a moment to determine if we were, indeed, crazy — he used his crack detective skillz to locate the bathrooms for us. (None too soon, either!) That said, the views from the Top were spectacular! (My photos, not so much.)

After our tour, we made our way back down to Times Square. By then, Hudson and I were both pretty worn out from all the walking, so we rested a while on one of the benchy areas, enjoyed the people-watching, and thought about where to go for supper. While we were sitting there, minding our own business, I suddenly felt my Tweet-Dar go off. I glanced up at one of the electronic billboards, and saw this:

Ho! Lee! Crap! A bajillion people in Times Square, and I catch a familiar face? What are the odds?? Hahaha!

Hudson and I started to get more and more hungry, and since the acceptable eateries in Times Square all had long waiting lists, we decided to hightail it out of that area and head to Little Italy. We managed to secure a cab, the driver of which may or may not have been on some illegal substance — he was far too “friendly,” constantly turning around and leering, and trying to make jokes. The hell? We made it to the Little Italy neighborhood in once piece, and looked around for a nice quiet place to eat. The first couple of restaurants we came across had super loud music blaring…. uh, NO! But then we found Ristorante S. P. Q. R, a nice quiet place with a very attentive wait staff.

I ordered the Pollo Parmigiana, which was deeeeelicious, and Hudson and I had a lovely long conversation, peppered occasionally by the sound of an operatic whinny from a nearby table — which turned out to be a very pretty woman with a very unfortunate laugh, who was there to celebrate her birthday.

After supper, Hudson and I grabbed another cab out to the Staten Island Ferry. This cabbie was slightly better than the previous one, but the constant praying was a bit… disturbing. O.o  We made it to the Ferry in one piece, and enjoyed a nice midnight ride over to Staten Island and back. Please enjoy a few more of my crappy photos:

As we were discussing potential plans for the upcoming days, Hudson mentioned that there was a ticket available for me to Craig’s show at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, CT, on the following Monday, should I want to go. I did want! I had taken off of work for the full two weeks, so extending my stay was a definite possibility. And I do love to see Craig perform in different venues.

After the ferry ride, we got another cab back to the hotel. This driver careered down the road like Satan himself was hot on his heels. Which, in a way, was okay, because we made it back in time for me to catch MOST of that night’s Late Late Show. Priorities, you know! Hudson and I planned to meet up again on Saturday, and head to Craig’s Radio City show together. Meanwhile, I would work on changing my hotel and train reservations, to accommodate my extended stay.

Saturday, 6 October – finally, the day of Craig’s Radio City show. The day I’d been waiting TEN MONTHS to arrive! (Gee, I hope Craig will live up to the antici… pation. Ha ha!) After dealing with an unexpected water-heater disaster, Hudson arrived at my hotel in the nick of time. We walked down to Radio City, stood on line, and waited for the doors to open. Once we were allowed in, we made a bee-line for the bathroom (It’s always a good idea, when about to view a Craigy stand-up!), which was quite spacious, with an unexpectedly large lounging area. Fancy! We then found our seats, to await the start of the show, along with the other 6000+ people — including, of course, Michael Naidus (Who was looking quite dapper!).

Craig’s opening act was Josh Robert Thompson. If you’re a Late Late Show viewer, you may know him best as the voice of Geoff Peterson, Craig’s robot skeleton “sidekick.” However, Josh has been performing on The Late Late Show as various characters since 2007. He also has a semi-regular podcast, in which he sometimes performs as several original characters. (The “Pokin’ Around Podcast” – check it out!) I’ve long thought Josh would be a good opening act for Craig. They already make each other laugh (And that’s half the battle!), and they have a similar “gentle” style, which, among other things, doesn’t involve berating the audience. *ahem* I had missed my chance to see Josh in Vegas, so this would be my first experience with him as the opening act. Josh did not disappoint! He filled his approximately 20-minute set with spot-on impersonations of various celebrities in some occasionally, well… intimate situations. Ha ha! What’s awesome about Josh is, he doesn’t “just” do voices, he physically *becomes* that person. It was a lot of fun to see the transformations!

Josh is very smart, funny, and quick on his feet, so I look forward to seeing his act evolve, as he becomes more comfortable stepping away from the impressions. After Josh left the stage, it was time for Craig’s set to begin. Since this was Radio City Music Hall — home of the world-famous Rockettes — we were in for a bit of a treat! Welcoming Craig to the stage were a troop of what Michael Naidus referred to as “RoBotQuettes,” dancing through a low fog:

From my vantage point in the front row, I could see Craig waiting in the wings, bouncing up and down, getting himself both psyched and limbered up, before heading out on stage. Bounce, Craig! Bounce! Too. Fecking. Adorable. 😀

Soon a freshly-shorn and buttered Craig joined the dancers on stage for some very impressive high-kicks, followed by some more swirling, and ending with Craig surrounded by RoBotQuettes. Awesome!

As soon as the smoke cleared, Craig began his routine. It’s one I’ve seen several times before, but as always, Craig makes it all seem fresh and new. Though I must admit: I get such a kick out of seeing him stalk the stage like a protective lion, constantly on the move, that he could probably go up there and say nothing, and I’d be happy. Heeheehee. Even although that constantly moving thing that I love really does make it difficult to get a non-blurry photo of him, that didn’t stop me from trying!

Craig concluded his set by telling the one joke he came to tell (Which cracks me up. Every. Time.), and then brought Josh back out for a brief chat. And then, sadly, what I had waited ten long months for, came to an end. *sniff* Goodbye, Chief! See you again in a couple days!

I was pleasantly surprised that there were no obnoxious hecklers this evening, given the large venue. However, I could have done quite nicely without the woman behind me screaming a high-pitched woooooo every so often. Yeesh. It took a while for the venue to empty out enough for me to get back out to the lobby, but eventually the crowd cleared, and I was able to find Hudson again. We chatted a bit about the show, and thought about options for an after-show supper. I took a quick moment to find Malinky in the crowd for one final hello-goodbye, and then Hudson and I set out in search of food.

We took a cab out to the Upper West Side neighborhood, and walked around looking at the buildings, including the Ansonia Hotel and The Dakota — both gorgeous works of architecture and steeped in history. We also walked down a few of the residential streets, with the traditional 4- and 5-story brownstones, many with their original architectural features. What I found the most interesting about these streets was how QUIET they were. At the end of the block, the city is bustling, with a lot of traffic noise, and people chattering as they walk about. But step a few feet into one of these residential areas, and it becomes as calm and peaceful as any small town.  I was definitely not expecting that!

After walking around a while, we decided to eat at the Westside Restaurant, a quaint little neighborhood diner on Broadway and 69th. Say what you want about diners, but given a choice between some fancy-pantsed Michelin-starred restaurant and a neighborhood diner, I’ll take the diner. Every. Single. Time. The food was delicious and the atmosphere quintessentially New York. *giggles*

Hudson and I cabbed it back to the hotel, and spent the next hour or two just chatting in the lobby. At one point, we were joined by a slightly tipsy yet very friendly and rather good looking young Bostonian, who had come down to wait for a pizza delivery. (Anyone order extra sausage??) Boston Dude was wearing a brand new pullover sweater that his girlfriend picked out for him. (It was even on sale!) But he was a bit concerned that his friends back home would make fun of him for wearing something so “New York,” rather than the traditional Boston Hoodie. We assured him that the sweater not only looked GREAT on him, but that it was versatile enough that he could wear it almost anywhere. Boston Dude’s pizza finally arrived, and he — almost reluctantly — bid us adieu. Hudson and I chatted a bit longer, making plans for the next day, and then parted again for the evening. As I rounded the corner to the bank of elevators, I was surprised to see a group of RSA still hanging around! (It was after 2am by this time! I spoke with the ladies briefly, then zipped up to my room.

Sunday, 7 October, was another day of sleeping in, followed by random sightseeing. Umbrellas packed, we started off with an official mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral, which Hudson kindly attended with me, even although it wasn’t necessarily her “affiliation.” Of course, both of us being late risers, we slipped in just in time for their latest mass in the afternoon. Haha! I was a bit disappointed that Archbishop Dolan was not in town at the time, since he was originally from my neck of the woods, and it would have been nice to say hello. Hudson and I next walked over to Park Avenue, and gazed upon the famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, another lovely Art Deco building.

We continued on to Grand Central Station, a beautiful building that any New Yorker would be proud to have as their visitors’ first impression of the City. (Sadly, Amtrak now arrives at the much less interesting Penn Station.) We found the Whispering Gallery (which was under construction), and had an interesting adventure with the elevators. For some reason, the elevators would NOT work whenever Hudson tried to push the buttons. We’d step out, perplexed; almost immediately, someone else would step in and have absolutely no problem at all! If this had happened only once, that might be just a fluke. But three times? The hell?? LOL!

It had started to rain again, and Hudson and I were getting pretty hungry, so we set out in search of food. To make it easy on ourselves, we chose a nearby TGI Fridays. The service was horrible, but the food — once it eventually arrived — was delicious, so I can’t complain too loudly.

With all the excitement, and the weird weather, and everything else, my defenses must have gotten a bit low, and I noticed I was getting a bit sneezy. Uh-oh! A good night’s rest may be just the ticket. Hudson and I cabbed it back to the hotel, and made plans for our Monday roadtrip to Ridgefield, CT. Because I’m an idiot, instead of going straight to bed, I first had to check the mail and the facetube and the tweetybox, to see if anything important or interesting had happened. Then the person in the adjacent hotel room started SNORING. And oh, by the way, the hotel decided to fix the water heater overnight, so no hot water until morning, and… *headdesk*

By the time I got up on Monday, 8 October, the sneezing had gotten a bit worse. And the sandpaper facial tissues supplied by the hotel were not helping things at all! I left a message with the docs at home, to see if they had any recommendations for over-the-counter cold and/or anti-sneezing stuff that would be okay to use with my other medications I’d been taking, and while I waited for them to call back, I checked in with Hudson. She had been working on picking up a ZipCar to take to Ridgefield, but was running into some problems. It being Columbus Day, a lot of people had the day off, and were unexpectedly extending their car reservations, to take advantage of the Last Guaranteed Good Weather Weekend Of The Year. Twice she was told a car was available, and twice she got to the zippy place to find out the previous renter had not yet returned it. Geez! Maybe just as well, since I was still waiting to hear back from my doctors. Plus, with the annual Columbus Day Parade going on in the area, a delay in travelling would help us avoid some of that traffic, as well.

By about 2:30, we had everything figured out, and were ready to hit the road! But first, a quick stop at one of the many DuaneReade stores (It looks like Walgreens, but it’s not. But it is!) for some Zycam. (Now, I don’t know if this stuff actually works, but I gotta say, I stopped sneezing for a few hours after I took some, so… you know.) We drove north out of NYC and got to Ridgefield about 90 minutes later, without getting lost once! We arrived in plenty of time to scope out the theatre (a *tiny* little place, connected to the local school), have a chat with a lovely gentleman at the local police station, and some helpful employees at the local hardware store. And then we found a quick slice of pizza to tide us over until after the show. (Neither of us likes to eat too much right before a show. Run the risk of getting food poisoning? No, thank you!)

Meanwhile, Craig’s assistant-slash-road-manager, Phil Cottone, tweeted a photo of Craig enjoying the glamorous lifestyle of a standup comedian, plus another photo of Josh “crushing” at the Playhouse. Ha!) We got back at the theatre shortly before the doors officially opened. After a quick change out of our travelling clothes and into something a bit more classy, we made our way to our seats to wait. Happily, Watson had arranged to have a nice front-row seat ticket available for me to use, so I had another excellent view. Thanks, Watson! 😀

After some introductions by the Ridgefield Playhouse staff, Craig’s opening act — Josh Robert Thompson, again — took the stage for about twenty minutes. Last I’d seen Josh was at Radio City Music Hall — a venue that holds over 6000 people — and the Ridgefield Playhouse capacity is closer to 500 people, so this was quite a change! It was fun to see how Josh worked with this much smaller crowd. Josh’s act had evolved a little, just in the past two days since I had last seen him. Some bits were removed, some tweaked, some moved around. But it was still highly entertaining, and I laughed just as much in this tiny theatre as I did at the big fancy-pantsed one. Thanks, Josh!

I’d never seen Craig in a venue quite this small, so same as with Josh, I was eager to see how he would work the crowd. Whereas the Radio City show was all glitz and glam, this Ridgefield show was very much Craig getting back to his roots, and it was fantastic! Craig took the stage, saying how HAPPY he was to have been booked at this particular theatre… in a this particular town… on a Monday night. Ha ha! I do love the little personalized things he throws in for each new place. 🙂

Craig was dressed less formally than at Radio City, sporting a grey/blue suit jacket, blue shirt, and jeans. And wearing a belt that seemed to have a mind of its own. The end of the belt had escaped its loop and was flapping in the breeze for quite a while before Craig noticed. When he finally did figure out what was happening, he took a moment to chide us for not saying anything. Ha! And yes, Craig, many of us *were* staring at it. (But you should probably know… many people may regularly be looking in that region anyway, so… I mean… what? Heh.)

Craig’s set was much the same as the other times I’ve seen it. But again, as I’ve mentioned many times, he always finds a way to make it seem fresh and new. 😀

After Craig told his one joke, he brought Josh back on stage for a brief improvisational chat.

This was an excellent show, all around. However, as happens with live performances, there are often people in the audience who manged to make themselves the center of attention, instead of just enjoying the show. Tonight was no exception, even with such a small crowd. Up in the balcony was a screamer, who was clearly overdoing the laughs in an effort to be “noticed.” And directly behind me was a couple who would NOT STOP TALKING throughout the entire show. *stabs*

To top it off, as Craig was winding down to his final goodbye, the woman behind me thought it would be appropriate to shout “Can we hang out?” Craig’s response? “No… we can’t! Even just looking at you has set this off [his wedding band], so no…” Ugh. What a completely classless woman! After Craig and Josh said their farewells and left the stage, I finally got a good look at the couple behind me. They had made a beeline for the security guy, to see if they could get backstage to see Craig. (Come on, seriously??) They were rebuffed immediately, however. Good call, Security! And I now understood why Craig added the “set off my ring” bit, because the woman was dressed like a total skank. VERY tight leggings, with an extremely low-cut top, and enough makeup to make a whore feel inadequately painted. *eyeroll* If you live in Ridgefield and know this woman, do her — and everyone else — a favor and teach her how to behave in a public setting. Sheesh.

Hudson and I chatted while the venue cleared out, then went to find the only restaurant in town that we KNEW was open late and also served breakfast all day: Dimitri’s Diner. (We may or may not have liberated one of the Craigy posters at the Playhouse on our way there…*ahem*) We both had a grilled cheese sandwich, which was quite good. (It’s pretty hard to mess that up, so is usually a safe choice.) (But wait – that’s not a breakfast item! You’re right, it’s not!) The wait staff were a little weird, though. Hovering far too much, without giving us any time to even look at the menu, and then pretty much ignoring us for the rest of the meal. Plus, they had several different menus, all of which had multiple pages! Less is more, guys. We made the midnight ride back to my hotel with only one brief wrong turn.

Tuesday, 9 October, would be my last full day in New York, so after another late sleep, we set out to explore the City some more. Hudson had rented the zip car through Wednesday, so no relying on our feet this time! We zipped past the Ed Sullivan Theater, where Letterman now tapes his Late Show (*ptooey*):

We zoomed down to the Flatiron District:

Went around through the SoHo District, where all the artsy people hang out, because of the great loft space left behind by the manufacturing buildings:

Took a swing down to the One World Trade Center area, to check on the progress of the “Freedom Tower”:

Zipped past the Brooklyn Bridge, which was wearing a blankie:

And then we stopped to eat in Alphabet City, at Muzzarella Pizza, a popular local “hole in the wall” eatery, where I enjoyed a slice of pesto pizza:

Hudson took me past McSorley’s Old Ale House, which women are finally allowed to enter, and which has now been taken over by “hipsters and their prams,” instead of the old “Hell’s Angels” type of crowd that used to frequent the area:

And then we stopped for some dessert at the much-ballyhooed Veniero’s Italian Bakery:

Now, if you’re a regular viewer of The Late Late Show, or if you’ve read Craig’s autobiography (And if you haven’t, what the hell is wrong with you??), you’ll have heard Craig speak often of Veniero’s, since he used to live “above” it for a time in the 1980s. For me, this little tidbit was the most interesting part of Veniero’s, and I have to say, it was kind of fun to get a glimpse of some “Craig History.”

Hudson and I both tried a couple of different pastries at Veniero’s, but neither of us was very impressed. The desserts were okay, but nothing I’d “write home about.” One of the items I chose was a cannoli, which I ate with a knife and fork. I’m told that this is both frowned upon and impossible. But Sticky doesn’t eat penis-shaped foods with her hands, so it was knife and fork or not at all, dammit! I am quite proud to report that my knife and fork method was an absolute success!

Hudson and I walked around the neighborhood for a bit, and then made our way back to Midtown, first taking a swirl around Grand Central…:

…and winding up at the Empire State Building, for a late night trip to the 102nd floor. No lines, no waiting! Seriously — if you’re going to “do” Empire State — do it late at night, during the week, when all the tourists have either gone home already or are tucked away in bed. If you go during the day, expect to wait in line after line after line.

Perhaps it was because we were practically the only patrons there, but finding where to purchase tickets, and where to start off your tour is a LOT easier at Empire State than at the Top of the Rock. One simple entrance, clearly marked, with people posted at regular intervals to help guide you through. The tour winds you through various exhibits, explaining the construction and all the history. It’s amazing to me that they were able to build this in just over a year. In 1931! The main observation deck is an outside one, on Floor 86. It was VERY windy up there, and a bit nippy at that time of night, but the view was still pretty spectacular. (Again, my photos… not so much.)

For an extra fee, you can take another ride up to the 102nd floor, where there is in indoor observation deck. Much warmer! The views are not that much different than below, so I’d say it’s not a must-see stop, but it was kind of fun to be nearly a quarter mile in the sky. (Do they still have Dalekanium panels up there??)

After we’d had our fill of the view, Hudson and I went back down to Floor 86, where you’re forced to exit through the gift shoppe. Which was actually okay, as I wanted to pick up a few things for the folks back home. The piped in music was some fantastic big-band-y or Sinatra-y type stuff, and I think Hudson and I must have been a bit punchy by then, because we both started independently dancing. In public. In the gift shoppe. Ha ha! We were more than a bit disappointed when the music switched up to something modern. Booo!! Gifts purchased, Hudson dropped me back off at to the hotel, and I started the sad process of packing up for my departure the next day (*sniff*), boxing up a few things to mail home, as I wouldn’t need them hogging up space in the suitcase.

On Wednesday, 10 October, I checked out of my hotel room and waited for Hudson to make it through the traffic to pick me up. As I was waiting, I saw someone hanging around outside the hotel, who I could have sworn was Malinky! What the? Does Mal have a doppelganger? LOL! I couldn’t leave my bags to check it out, so I may never know for sure. I looked away for a second, and the person was gone.

Hudson finally made it through the traffic, and I loaded my bags into the zip car. One of the very few things that I had expressed a desire for during my stay, was some really good french toast. (I know, I’m a difficult guest. Very indecisive, but willing to go along with most any plan!) Hudson had sent word out to her local friends for recommendations on the best french toast place, and everyone mentioned one particular restaurant that served a french toast that was soaked overnight. Overnight! What devilry is this? I believe it was the Jane restaurant, but wouldn’t you know it? This particular item was somewhat “seasonal,” and had been taken off the daily menu just the day before. (You can still find it for Sunday brunch.) Darn the luck! Ah, well… next time, right? Also, I’m told Jane is rather busy, and even with reservations, you may have to wait, so it may not have worked out anyway. For a very acceptable alternative, we went back out to the Upper West Side for some delicious french toast at Sarabeth’s. (With an extra adorable little pitcher of tea! Oh, Sarabeth’s, you know me so well.)

After our meal, we drove straight for Penn Station. The train was scheduled to leave at 3:45, so I was hoping to be there by at least 3, if not sooner. Unfortunately, traffic was a bit heavy at that time of day, so we were cutting it a bit close. We did manage to make it to the station with about a half-hour to spare. Yay! Hudson went with me into the Acela Lounge to wait — as a sleeping car passenger, I was allowed to have one non-family guest. We chatted until it was time to board. Happily, the train folks allowed Hudson to come with me all the way onto the train, so she kindly wheeled my luggage down the platform, and helped me get settled into my Roomette. Hudson was also thoughtful enough to speak with my sleeping car attendant, Tom Finnegan, to ask that he take special care of me, as I was still in recovery mode. (Awww, you’re a sweetie, Hudson!) Hudson and I said our final goodbyes, and she deboarded, leaving me all alone again for the ride home. *double sniff*

At 3:45 on the button, the Lake Shore Limited pulled out of the station, and we were on our way. And of course, the sun decided to come back out, just as I was leaving. *snerk* As mentioned, my attendant was Tom Finnegan, and he was VERY attentive and helpful. I suspect he would have been anyway, even if Hudson had not asked him to be, since I see his name come up often as a “hall of fame” attendant, but he did take the extra step of offering to bring my meals to my room, rather than making me crash through the two or three cars it would take to get to the Dining Car. Very thoughtful, indeed! Tom definitely earned his tip. If you’re ever travelling on Lake Shore Limited, Tom’s the guy you want to get. He’s the Rolando Of The East!

Soon it was time for supper. When you travel in a sleeping car, meals are included, and the food on the Amtrak is surprisingly delicious. Tom came and took my order, and about a half hour later, he came back with my supper: Herb roasted chicken, with rice, veggies, a salad, a bun, and for dessert, a chocolate caramel peanut-butter torte that was to die for. To. Die. For.

I went to sleep at the unheard-of hour of 9:30 pm, tossed and turned a few times, and officially woke up about 6:30 the next morning, in time to enjoy this weird natural phenomenon that I’ve heard people refer to as a “sunrise”:

We arrived in Chicago around 11:30 on 11 October, about 90 minutes late. Not bad, for Amtrak! I got another Red Cap ride from the train to the Metropolitan Lounge, got myself checked in for my connecting train, stowed my bags, and then hit the streets. Chicago, baby! First stop? My beloved Chicago Theatre, of course!

Oh, hello, Craig! See you next month! 😀

After gazing upon my favorite theatre, I made my way to a nearby Corner Bakery Cafe, a few blocks away on E Wacker for some lunch — baked french toast. (What ELSE would I order? Ha!)

Bonus points to this restaurant for having some great scenery — one of my three favorite buildings in Chicago, the iconic and gorgeous Wrigley Building (with the Tribune Tower adding some extra neo-gothic loveliness):

Since the train’s late arrival cut into my layover time a bit, I tore myself away from staring at the Wrigley, and grabbed a cab back to Union Station. (Wondering how many times the “vomit fee” had been paid in this cab… ew.)

After a short wait, the call came to board the train. I Red-Capped it back out the platform, found my train car, and was directed to my Roomette. This time, on the upper floor, as is normal for the Empire Builder. One last look of Chicago, and we were on our way.

My attendant for this leg of the journey was “Chris.” I half-wondered if this was the same attendant who had fallen asleep and forgot to let me off at my stop a couple years earlier. Nah, what are the chances? Pretty good, actually! My thoughts were confirmed while Chris made the rounds of his passengers. When he got to me, he asked if we’d met before. I said I didn’t think so…. Then Chris said he had a passenger with the same name a couple of years ago, who was getting off at the same stop, so… — OH MY GOD! It IS the same guy! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! — I finished his thought with “and then you fell asleep and forgot to let me off? Then yes, we have met before. And DON’T do that again!” Ha ha! Chris was VERY attentive this time, and made sure to check in on me often, to prove he was still awake. Heeheehee.

The train arrived at my station pretty much on time, Chris remembered to let me off, and soon I was back at home. My long, delightful journey had come to an end. *weeps*

And that’s it! Yay! For anyone who actually read all of this: Thanks! I hope you found the story of some interest. I apologize for being so verbose, but most of this is for my sake more than yours, so I like to be as thorough as possible. Also, please forgive the varying sizes of photos — I started writing this ages ago on Posterous, and had to finish on WordPress, so I’m still learning how to work that system. More apologies for letting it take soooooo long for me to finally get this posted. In my defense, I was a bit busy trying to catch up with work, after having been away for so long, along with what seemed like an endless string of distractions and crises. And then I just kind of forgot. Oops. 🙂

Many thanks to:

* Watson, for being lovely in every possible way, for setting aside some excellent tickets for me, and mostly for arranging to find the perfect companion to keep me entertained, all from thousands and thousands of miles away. I so wish we could have spent the time together, as originally planned, but Important Life Things are Important, and must take precedence. Missed you tons! *heavy duty next-time socks*

* Hudson, for agreeing to hang out with me, and show me around wherever I wanted to go, and making sure I wasn’t over-doing anything. But mostly for being an awesomely hilarious non-stop chatterbox! No awkward pauses needed. LOL!

* BFF for checking in behind the scenes to make sure I was being properly entertained, even although your hands were also full with Important Real Life Stuff.

* Malinky, for the delicious Chicken Teriaki and anti-social awkwardness after the Paley event. Thanks again, Mal! 🙂

* The good people of New York, who were unstereotypically friendly and helpful.

* Radio City Music Hall, for allowing Craig’s delightfully filthy antics on your stage. 😛

* The nice folks of Ridgefield, Connecticut (Except for that one skank and her boyfriend, of course. Everyone else was lovely!), and Ridgefield Playhouse for hosting Craig.

* The cabbies of New York, for always getting me to my destination in one piece. *snerk*

* Rolando, Tom, and Chris of Amtrak, for taking very good care of me, and for not sleeping on the job.

* Mother Nature, for not raining EVERY day.

* The folks at the Paley Center, and the lovely David Itzkoff, for the wonderful interview with Craig.

* Josh Robert Thompson, for the Geoff-free larfs. Times two. Was awesome to finally get to see you as YOU. 🙂

* And, finally, endless thanks to the always-charming and lovely (easy for me to say) Craig Ferguson. First, for arranging the “fan club” presale opportunity for Radio City, which jump-started this whole thing. And then for adding several other shows and opportunities in the area. And, as always, many thanks just for being one of YOU, and not one of “them.” x

Finis.

Sixteen Stories

Seven days, seven states, 1600 miles, and two Craig Ferguson stand-up shows… Wheeee!

This past week I had an opportunity to take a break from work and go on a little road trip through the South and Midwest. Prompted, of course, by the fact that Craig Ferguson had scheduled a week of stand-up shows throughout the area. Craig was going to be appearing in Biloxi MS, Birmingham AL, Nashville TN, St Louis MO, Omaha NE, Des Moines IA, Wichita KS, and Thackerville OK. Wow! And while I would have loved to have seen ALL of those shows (and despite some reports to the contrary), I am not *completely* crazy. A choice had to be made. Especially as I would be driving, and traveling alone.

I had been to Craig’s Nashville shows in 2010 (The ones he taped for his “Does This Need To Be Said” stand-up special… photo from that night above, wheee!) and I’d had such a good time – both at the show and just visiting Nashville – that I knew this must be one of my stops. For my second show, I chose one a few days later in Des Moines. Looking back, I believe I made an excellent decision! 

I set out on Saturday, 21 January, and, leaving behind below-freezing temperatures and white landscapes, I arrived two days later in the much warmer and sunnier city of Nashville. I had spent the first night of my journey in the vicinity of Chicken Bristle, Illinois. (Chicken Bristle! I know!!) This stop was mostly uneventful, except for the fun of watching the tweets from the happy people at the Biloxi show, and the fact that there was a Denny’s nearby. Yay, 24-hour breakfast! Also? Chicken Bristle!

Once in Nashville, I checked into my favorite Sleeping Establishment, and got myself settled in, got the computer hooked up, and eagerly awaited the excited reports coming out of Craig’s double-set of shows in Birmingham. 

As I waited, I noticed there was a severe thunderstorm heading Nashville way, with heavy lightening, very high winds, and many reports of tornadoes coming out of Arkansas. Yikes! Keeping one eye on the oncoming storm and one eye on the post-Birmingham show reports (and one eye on the squee-mail, where my Watson “back home” was keeping me entertained and up-to-date), I began to hope that Craig would book it out of Birmingham immediately following the show, to make the 3-hour trek up to Nashville. If he hurried, he might be able to arrive juuuuust ahead of the storm. 

Thankfully, as I was soon to find out, Craig had done exactly that. But meanwhile, I continued to watch the excellent weather coverage from WKRN; I could see things were starting to look pretty nasty out there, with the radar showing lots of potential rotation. And then, about 1 a.m., the warning sirens went off in town. “Oh. Great,” I said. (Or perhaps a slightly more colorful phrase.) I didn’t have any historical knowledge of Nashville tornadic weather, of course, but coming from a place with frequent tornadoes, I know how unpredictable they can be. So, listening to the voices in my head shouting “Take cover, you fool!” and after some frantic prompting from my Watson, I grabbed anything of importance and made my way down to the lobby to wait it out. 

The tornado warning was set to officially expire at 2am, but the sirens continued for a while after that. Craig sent the following two tweets shortly after 2am, and I was relieved to know that he had made it safely to Nashville:

Whew! One less thing to worry about! But now that I knew Craig was in Nashville, how hilarious it would have been, I mused, if we *had* been forced to evacuate to the below-ground level during the storm. In my head, I saw him clothed in his Very Fairy Princess pajamas that he got from Julie Andrews, cowering in fear, with the sideways rain and the wind howling by. “Yeah, so he started crying right before he shit his pants…” Would have been the Best. Story. Ever!

Once I was sure that the worst of the storms had passed, I went back to my room. A few more thundershowers came through during the night, leaving behind fresh, clear, and beautifully warm (to me) sunny skies. After sleeping in a bit — Can you blame me? Long stormy night coupled with an incredibly comfortable bed? — I decided to check out the town.

I had a late breakfast at the wonderful 417 Union, toured around the capitol building area — Hmmm…. wonder where those Occupy folks cowered with their tents during the storms? — unsuccessfully tried to find the Bishop in a Box, and made my way toward Tennessee Performing Arts Center, where Craig would be performing that night. As I rounded the corner, I found all kinds of fire trucks lining the block. Boy, this city is not short on excitement! And ooh, firemen! I watched the goings-on for a while, along with the other crowds of people, but couldn’t make out what all the fuss was about. “Kimberly from Channel 4” stopped by, looking for locals to interview, but she didn’t seem to have much luck. I’ve checked the local news since I’ve been home and still have no idea what was going on down there, but it was an interesting diversion!

I watched awhile, then continued on my walk. I made my way down past Ryman Auditorium (where a strange young man on a bike was literally “WOO”-ing as he rode by) and down, down, down the hill to Broadway. I took a very brief look around, saw only one random cowboy playing for change, then climbed back up, up, up the hill and back to Sleeping Establishment to prepare for Craig’s show that evening.

Oh, hello, pretty tour bus! Did I mention that at some point during my walkabout, I did get a nice look at Mr. CraigyFerg in the wild. IN! THE! WILD! I won’t divulge where, or what he was doing, or what he was wearing, for privacy’s sake. Suffice it to say he looked fantastic — and as completely adorable as you might imagine. (As it turns out my non-story storm story was not so far-fetched after all!) Side note: nothing like sleeping with The Chief for two nights to make a girl feel special. *gigglesnort*

As I mentioned, that night Craig was performing at TPAC, and I had front row, stage-right tickets. Close enough to lick Craig’s boots, should he want. (Though I wouldn’t, even if he asked nicely.) Acoustically, not the greatest seat in the house, but visually? Pair-fect. (This photo, not so much pair-fect, but you can’t beat that smile. Additional photos from Nashville.)

From off-stage, Craig hilariously welcomed us and introduced his opening act for the evening, Mr. Ted Alexandro. (Ted would be joining Craig for the rest of this tour, starting in Nashville.) Ted had performed on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last fall (see clip below), and I remembered liking his set. He did not disappoint! I won’t give any details on the material, but he complements Craig very well, with a similarly “friendly” story-telling style of humor. Watching the tweety exchanges between them over the week, I get the impression that Craig and Ted have a good respect for each other, and have a lot of fun together off-stage, as well. 

[I must say that all of the opening acts I’ve seen touring with Craig during this particular show have been spectacular: Michael Palascak, Chad Daniels (twice), and now Ted Alexandro (twice). Hilariously funny and talented comedians, without any of the harshness and skankitude that seemed to be commonplace with a certain previous regular opening act. *cough* “Blandy Blagen” *cough*]

Ted’s set on TLLS w Craig Ferguson:

Ted had us laughing throughout his twenty minute set. When he was finished, Craig introduced himself, taking the stage to a standing ovation and the kind of hooting and hollering that you’ll only find in Nashville. Ahhhh, finally! Craig was dressed in a lovely white shirt that allowed for a few tummy peeks (not that I was looking… *ahem*), with a grey suit jacket, very nice fitting jeans, and his regular boots. And with a spectacularly lovely head of butter-free hair. Wheeee! 

After poking a little fun at the southern accent, Craig launched into his routine. I won’t go into a detailed review of the actual show. If you’ve seen it, you know how delightful it is. If you haven’t yet, I don’t want to spoil anything for you. I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen this particular show five times now, and each time Craig makes it fresh and new. Always adding, always changing, always testing out a new story or a different phrasing.

Craig told stories for about an hour, expertly weaving in and out from one topic to the next, until he got to the one joke he had come to tell. He finished off his set with an awkward pause (or an attempted one, at least… some members of the audience just couldn’t stand the awkwardness and tried to be “helpful” by shouting out other suggestions, such as Big Cash Prize and Mouth Organ… *eyeroll*).

[If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion to anyone thinking of going to see a stand-up comedian perform live: Lay off the booze until after, and don’t be a dick. You may think you’re being funny or helpful, but nobody came there and paid to hear you. Heckling is rude, not only to the performer, but to everyone else in the room, so leave the comedy to the professionals, okay? But I digress…]

Craig ended his show, had a little face-time with some Friends of Friends, and then presumably went out for supper with Trace Adkins, as he had tweeted he would, earlier in the day. Supposedly, Trace was at the show, but I didn’t see him. How I could miss that handsome sequoia walking in, I’ll never know! I hoofed it back to Sleeping Establishment to squee with my Watson, tweet out some reports, and get settled in to watch the delicious gift that the Rerun Fairy had left for us — Paris Week episodes of Le Late Late Show avec Craig Ferguson. Merci!

On Tuesday, 24 January, after another night’s oh-so-comfortable rest, I pac
ked up my things and checked out of Sleeping Establishment to head out on the next leg of my journey. Destination: Des Moines, by way of St. Louis. To my surprise, as I was on my way out, I noticed that The Inferno – as Ted Alexandro had named the big old tour bus – had not yet left town! I had snapped the above bus photo on Monday, so I had to laugh when Ted tweeted this nearly identical one on Tuesday!  

Even although Craig and the boys had left Nashville after me, somehow – as evidenced by the arch photos that Craig, Ted and Phil all tweeted – they managed to arrive in St. Louis about twenty minutes ahead of me. That is one magical tour bus! (Or, more likely, they hopscotched me as I took a side trip into Cadiz, KY, to stock up on some much-needed provisions: clementines, carrots, and cheese. *curse you, need for sustenance*) 

When I saw that all three of the boys had posted arch photos, I burst into laughter at the thought of them all with their faces pressed up against the bus windows like excited little youngsters, snapping their pics. *giggles* Of course, I had to snap one of my own, to complete the set. Not surprisingly, this is a bit more difficult, when you’re the one at the wheel. (You’re welcome, fellow St. Louis drivers!) 

Craig and Ted were performing at The Pageant in St. Louis this evening, and I also happened to be stopped in the area for the night. I relished the thought of Craig performing just miles away, and was looking forward to all of the excited tweets coming out of the show. After having driven myself over 300 miles that day, there was no way I’d be alert enough to enjoy seeing the show in person and be able to drive another 300 miles the next day, but that’s okay – vicarious glee is sometimes just as much fun. And it sounded like everyone had a fantastic — and a bit chilly — time. 

Wednesday – Robert Burns‘ birthday! I took a peek at the ticket sales for the Des Moines show and noticed there were exactly six seats left. Outstanding! If you know anything about me, you know that I absolutely LOVE to see Craig’s shows sell out. Yay! I left St. Louis with those happy thoughts, and made my way to Des Moines, Iowa, arriving after another 6-hour drive. Craig and Ted had a date with Omaha tonight, so our paths would part for a short time. This gave me plenty of time to enjoy the tweets from the Omaha audience, have a nice long chat with my Watson, relax a bit, and familiarize myself with Des Moines. 

One of the things I love about road trips (as opposed to hopping a cross-country flight, which I haven’t done, frankly, in about 30 years) is you get to watch the scenery change, and can check out as many or as few of the little towns along the way as you like. I don’t know why, but it always fascinates me to find out all over again that people – in the Midwest, anyway… I’m sure it’s the same elsewhere – are pretty much JUST LIKE YOU wherever you go. And driving around in a “big city” isn’t really that difficult, once you get off the highways and interstates. Seriously — regular everyday people live in these cities, they’re not going to make it impossible to get around. All you need is a reliable navigation system — human or mechanical — and you’re all set! If you ever have the chance to just get out and drive, I highly recommend it!

Thursday morning, 26 January — Ted Alexandro’s birthday! I again took my time getting up, and then headed downtown to check out the scenery. Des Moines has this handy little skywalk system to get you from building to building, so you can avoid the harsh winter air. (Or the hideously hot summers, I suppose.) I walked around through those a bit, imagining a scene out of The Graduate (Ha!), then went back down to street level, since it really was a lovely day, for this time of the year. From the tweets, I could see that Craig and the boys were moseying they’re way in from Omaha, stopping at a Cracker Barrel and the Iowa Aviation Museum as part of Ted’s Birthday Celebration Extravaganza. (Adorable!)

I stopped back at my Sleeping Establishment, and gave Hoyt Sherman Place a call to see if they were open for touring. This is where Craig and Ted would be performing tonight, and I wanted to check it out ahead of time. You know, make sure I could find my way there and back without getting lost, and also get to check out where I would be sitting that night. I had purchased two tickets — one front row center (actually, 2nd row, but with nobody in front of that seat) and one box center, and was still unsure which one I would choose. Hoyt told me that they normally are not open on event days, but since “the artist” had not yet arrived, they thought it would be okay. (I think it helped that I sounded so disappointed!) So off I went!

I found the venue with no trouble at all, and had a nice look around. It’s a lovely old theater, with lots of visual interest. (Not quite as charming, I must admit, as my beloved Chicago Theatre, but as that’s the first place I saw Craig’s live show, I may be biased.) I checked out the view from my potential seats, and, having just been “up Craig’s nostrils,” so to speak, in Nashville, I decided the more comfortable, less “cozy” box seats would be the better choice this time. (Excellent choice, as I found out later, since this view resulted in some fantastic pics!) Decision made, I made my way back to the Sleeping Establishment to prepare for the evening’s show.

Oh, hello, Inferno… we meet again! This sleeping with The Chief thing is starting to become a habit! *giggles* Happily, at some point during my wanderings, I again had an opportunity to feast my eyes upon Mr. CraigyFerg in the wild. And, once again, for privacy’s sake, no details on where or when, or how his lovely 6′ 2″ frame was dressed, or what he was talking about in that gloriously accented way. *swoon* This day was no where near over and had already been made. And so much more was yet to come! But first? Out of my way, Chief, I’ve got places to go! 

About 6pm I drove back over to Hoyt Sherman, and waited around with the other early arrivals. Everyone seemed very excited and eager for the show to begin. As they were finally allowing us to be seated, a bearded gentleman arrived hoping to find a ticket for tonight. It being a sold-out show, there were none to be had, of course. But I still had my spare front-row ticket. Finding out that he only needed one (whew!), I happily gave him mine. He looked a bit flabbergasted when I didn’t ask him for any money in exchange. But the thought of every single seat in the house gently cradling some fan’s ass was just too delicious to pass up. If you’re me, there is simply no price you can put on that. 😀 (I sure hope Beardy Dude behaved himself down there!)

Again from off-stage, Craig welcomed us to Hoyt Sherman, and talked about all the wonderful things that he… or she… did to get the theater named after him… or her. And then he introduced Ted Alexandro, and away we go! Ted told us it was his birthday, which changed the math on one of his “jokes.” His set was a little different than what he had done in Nashville, which was nice. Iowa being the center of the political election cycle, Ted couldn’t pass up the opportunity to riff on that a bit.

Ted spoke for about twenty minutes again, and then Craig introduced himself and came out on stage, dressed much the same as he was in Nashville. After gently chiding us for not singing “Happy Birthday” to Ted, Craig launched into his routine, again taking us on a journey of laughter in what was, in my opinion, one of the best shows of his that I have ever seen. You could tell that Craig had had a lot of fun during the day and was extra super happy to be performing on stage that night.

(Additional photos from Des Moines.)

The crowd at Hoyt was a bit… oh, rambunctious at times, with someone in the back just randomly shouting out “AAAHHHHHHHH,” which Craig either didn’t hear over his own talking and the crowd’s laughter, or which he chose to ignore. A woman somewhere in the front rows got caught filming, and Craig lit into her, nicknaming her “Lady Fucking YouTube.” Craig noticed that one member of the audience was having a certain term explained to him. (Spoiler: “God dammit, you are explaining to him what a clitoris is. O.o Duuuuude….”) (Gotta love those enunciated “t” sounds!) And one douche at the end earned himself the title of Most Reticent Heckler Ever. But overall, they were a very receptive and welcoming crowd. 

Craig spoke for about an hour and a quarter before he finally got to telling the joke he came to tell. As he was explaining that he heard the joke from “Fat Drew Carey,” this exchange happened:

Reticent Heckler: “24 million!” 

Craig: “What? 24 million what?”

Reticent Heckler: “Well… he makes a lot of money…”

Craig: So what? *cracks up*

After ridiculing the heckler for a while, Craig realized that he was meant to be done by now, and had gone well into overtime. An idea popping into his head, Craig invited the woman with the camera up on stage to take a photo of the audience that they could then tweet. She declined, but let him borrow her camera. He asked for the house lights to be turned up, and as he was getting ready to take the photo, Phil snuck a camera out under the curtains behind Craig and snapped a pic. Someone yelled “LOOK BEHIND YOU!!” which adorably sent Craig into panto mode. (“What, children? Did you see a monster behind me? Where? I don’t see him at all!”) Craig later tweeted Phil’s photo:  

Craig is a big old tease, by the way — the TEASIEST, as the lovely General Malinky pointed out. There was, sadly, no willie to be seen. Ah, probably just as well… wouldn’t want the entire theater to pass out!

Craig then called Ted back out on stage, so we could all sing “Happy Birthday” to him. With the house lights up, Craig first took a photo of Ted with the woman’s camera (Which I’m hoping will show up online at some point!), then led the audience of 1,250 in song, while Ted stood by and beamed happily. I think this may be my most favorite photo of the night (Awwww!):

After nearly an hour and a half of telling stories and chatting with us (Not counting Ted’s set!), Craig finally said his goodnights and left the stage. This was one of the most SPECTACULAR shows I’ve ever seen Craig do. I am so pleased that I was able to be a part of Ted’s Birthday Celebration Extravaganza, and am very happy that I decided to take the extra time and drive another 500 or so miles out of my way to catch this show. It was definitely one of those “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences that I will cherish for a very long time. Even Hoyt Sherman was shocked by all of the post-show twitter chatter! I feel very lucky to have been a part of it.

Craig’s tour bus was waiting for him outside of the venue, and I saw a few people head over there to see if they could catch Craig, but I don’t think they had any luck. I just floated straight to my car to head back to Sleeping Establishment and see if I could find a restaurant that was open late at night.

The gentlemen at Sleeping Establishment recommended a place called Fong’s Pizza, which was a bit more than several blocks away. Still on my Craigy High, and feeling adventuresome, I threw caution to the wind and said, “Let’s go!” Fong’s describes itself as a “mix of Chinese, Oriental, Polynesian and Italian, with a 40’s and 50’s feel,” and that’s exactly right. Pretty much anything you might be hungry for, you can get. I decided on the BBQ Pork sandwich, which was delicious with a nice bit of heat. The place was hopping, and the staff and other patrons were cheerful and friendly. It was a delicious meal, in a unique atmosphere, and I’d highly recommend a visit if you’re ever in the area. There was a bit of excitement after the meal — as I was waiting for my ride back to Sleeping Establishment, I saw a young couple nearly get run down as they crossed the street by a woman who suddenly decided to screech to a stop in the middle of the road, whip her car in reverse and hit the gas. Holy crackers! I’m glad that couple were swift on their feet!

Back to Sleeping Establishment, and still on the Craigy High — and now f
ull of spicy BBQ and copious amounts of tea — I settled in to check out the tweets (and saw that Craig and the boys were also enjoying some BBQ at a different Des Moines establishment – ha!), squee with my Watson some more, watch that night’s offering from the Rerun Fairy – more Le Late Late Show avec Craig Ferguson, yay! – and tweet out a couple of my favorite photos of the night.

One more day on the road, and I’d be home. But first, an important stop to make while I was in town — the capitol building! Whenever I’m on a road trip and am anywhere near a state’s capital, I can’t pass up the opportunity to check out their capitol building. The Des Moines capitol is one of the loveliest I’ve seen so far — at least from the outside. Perhaps some day Craig will come back through this area and give me an excuse to return and check out the inside. 

The ride back home was mostly uneventful, but I did run into a bit of a snowstorm, with temperatures hovering just above freezing. I had left late enough in the day to avoid any of the heavy traffic, so even with the snow, it was fairly smooth sailing all the way.

Also, Iowa has the most literary rest area I’ve ever seen! 

And that’s it! That’s the end of my story! (I know, you’re probably saying “FINALLY!”) If you’ve read this far, thanks for coming along for the ride. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. 

Many thanks to:

• Culvers for having delicious fast hot meats and predictably clean restrooms.
• Denny’s for the 24-hour breakfast (though you’re pretty scarce in Iowa).
• The good people of Nashville and to TPAC for bringing Craig to town again.
• The friendly and cheerful people of Des Moines, and to Hoyt Sherman for hosting Craig.
• Ted Alexandro for being so darned entertaining, and for letting us share in his birthday.
• Craig Ferguson for touring the entire week in my region, and just for being so very nice, in every possible way. (Easy for me to say… I don’t have to live with him. Heehee!)
• Watson’s The Sweetie for being concerned for my well-being (even although it probably did throw a big old monkey wrench into Story #4) 😛 
• And most of all, thanks to my Watson for squeeing, fretting, and LOLing with me for all 1600 miles. x