Last January I made my first trip to New York City. Even though I now live in North Carolina, I’m not a stranger to large cities having lived in both Los Angeles and Houston, not to mention many childhood visits to Chicago. But New York had always eluded me, until now.
In the past I had always waited until I had someone to travel with, but this time I made the trip on my own because there was someone I wanted to finally meet. My favorite actress of all time, Lori Singer, is also a cellist, and even attended the prestigious Juilliard School of music before turning her attention to acting. Anyway, I found out that she would be performing at Carnegie Hall and I knew I just had to attend! So I made my reservations, planned my trip, and boarded the flight to La Guardia.
Being that this was my first trip to New York City, I was like a wide eyed kid at Disney World wanting to experience everything in front of me. My first experience was the shuttle bus ride to the Hotel. I had been told that taking a cab from the airport was my best bet, but knowing the shuttle bus was $17 and the cab ride would be about $50, I decided on the shuttle. So there I was, crammed in with a bunch of strangers staring out the window at my new playground. First one stop, then another until the very last stop an hour later…me. At least the shuttle drove through Times Square and right by Carnegie Hall where I would attend the concert in a couple of days. Once I checked into my room, I hit the streets!
Being a guy, I have a great sense of direction so I set off on foot to the fabled land of Central Park. After a few blocks of walking however, I found myself in Riverside Park on the west side boardering the Hudson River. “Yes, I meant to do this!” I said to myself. Perhaps I’ll go down by the river and wave at New Jersey. Needless to say, I did walk up and down the park and found it a nice retreat in a large city.
The next morning I set out towards Central Park again. It was easy to find this time because I already knew how to get to Riverside Park and knew that Central Park was in the opposite direction. I had been told that one place I definitely had to try was The Tavern on the Green restaurant, so in that direction I walked. The restaurant was crowded, but that was to be expected. I checked my coat and was seated at a table in the main dining room. I ended up ordering the fillet mignon which was the most expensive item on the menu. I figured if I was going to experience this restaurant, I was going to do it right. Of course what’s a steak without a nice cold beer? Perhaps I should have looked at the menu first, because I wasn’t aware that Heineken costs $10 per 12 oz bottle there. Thankfully I only had two. The restaurant’s atmosphere was wonderful, the location was absolutely perfect, but the food was only OK. $71 later as I’m leaving the restaurant, I was still glad that I had this experience to take home with me.
The rest of the time I spent walking and exploring the city. I walked through Central Park to 5th avenue. I walked down 5th avenue past Trump Towers, Rockefeller Center, and many other landmarks to 39th street. Then I cut over to Broadway. I then made my way back up passing through Times Square and exploring along the way. The city is crowded, noisy, and smelly in some areas, but yet I loved every minute of it! I saw so many landmarks that I had previously only seen in movies and on TV, so it made it all the more special to me.
The day of the concert found me starting to get nervous with my anticipated rendezvous. Still, I pressed on. I put on my suit; made sure I had my ticket, and then proceeded to catch a cab ride to Carnegie Hall for the dress rehearsal. Once in the cab, I told the driver “Carnegie Hall, please.” to which he responded in a thick unknown accent, “Where is that?” "Are you kidding me??," I thought to myself. Hell, I even knew it was on 57th street, and I’ve never been here before. I told the driver it was on 57th, and made a point of also saying that it was one of New York’s most famous landmarks. He still didn’t know so he called into his dispatcher, and of all things, the dispatcher had no clue either and couldn’t offer assistance. What? Is this a joke? Is this a new reality show about New York cab patrons?? The driver then pulled over to let me out, and to his credit, didn’t charge me since he couldn’t help out. I hailed another cab, and before I got in I asked him this one question, “Do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?” Just as soon as those words left my mouth, that old punch line of. “Practice, practice, practice.” came to mind, but thankfully this cabbie hadn’t heard the joke before. The good news is however that he knew how to get to Carnegie Hall, so off I went.
Once I arrived at Carnegie Hall, I marched through the front doors and up to the ticket counter and informed the lady behind the glass that I was there for the dress rehearsal. She then proceeded to tell me that for the dress rehearsal, I needed to go around back to the stage entrance. So I marched right back out the front doors and went around the block to the back of the building. Once inside I was led through a maze of stairways and hallways to where the dressing rooms were. Then suddenly in front of me I see Lori Singer as she's talking with the production director, and then she quickly ducked back into her dressing room. I was then led into the concert hall where I took a seat close to the stage where Lori would soon be.
15 minutes later Lori came out to practice her part for the concert, and I sat there quietly, hoping that I wasn’t grinning like the village idiot while she played. Once her time was up, and apparently she was the last to rehearse that day, the concert hall quickly emptied and soon there was only Lori, the conductor, a couple of other people and myself. I knew this was the best time to make my introduction, but I sat quietly while she talked to the conductor, and waited for the right time. I waited for what seemed like an eternity, but in truth was probably only 5 or 6 minutes. As I sat there, my heart was beating harder and harder in my chest. Finally I decided that this wasn’t going to work, so I got up and left the auditorium. Once out in the hall I realized what an idiot I was for leaving, so after a few internal words of encouragement, I turned around and went back in. As soon as I reentered the concert hall, she was by herself and walking up the aisle, and before I knew what I was doing I heard my own voice speak out, “Ms. Singer?”
Lori turned to me and responded, “Yes?” I responded and told her that I wanted to introduce myself, so I awkwardly made my way between the concert seating towards her. You know, like passing through movie theater seats. Then suddenly we were face to face. Wow, she’s beautiful, and tall! I already knew she was tall, but being that she was also wearing heels and standing on the upper end of a sloping floor, it really stood out to me. I first complimented her on her playing, and she politely thanked me. I tried to make some small talk, but being that I’ve always been bad in that area, it was difficult. Knowing that I was coming to New York to meet her, I had played out conversations in my mind so that when the time came, I would come across as relaxed and half way verbal. However, that changed once I looked into her eyes. Suddenly my college educated brain seized up and I was left speechless. Possibly my only saving grace was that I actually said, “I’ve completely forgotten everything I was going to say.” She quickly took over the conversation and everything went smoothly after that.
The icing on the cake to this trip was finally meeting Lori Singer and being able to watch and listen to her perform. She’s an amazing person and I hope to see her again sometime in the future.
And the concert was fantastic!!
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