OK, so here's the rest of my "trip report" to NYC this weekend...just hitting the high spots here...
Saturday was a beautiful New York day - couldn't have been lovelier. Stephen & I traipsed from their place (a beautiful penthouse too, I might add) to The Virginia Theater where we saw "The Crucible" with Liam Neeson. Laura Linney, and a great supporting cast. Rusty (Stephen's partner, and one of the funniest, sweetest guys I've ever met) had arranged some great seats for us, and more importantly had set up a "meet n' greet" after the performance with Ms. Linney. Well, the production was outstanding, and Laura was very pretty & gracious and signed my program for me. Fun souvenir, great memory. We had just enough time to walk back and take a side-trip through Central Park. I saw the "Imagine" mosaic where folks come to meditate and place guitar picks, pictures, and other Beatles stuff down. There was a group of musicians sitting on the lawn and playing Beatles music. Very peaceful. After a quick change, we headed over to Judy's at Chelsea to meet up with the other JMDLer's. Thank God Stephen was able to lead me around, make sure I got on the right subways, etc. David Lahm was there, and like I said had a cover for me which I really appreciate - THANX David! Soon everybody else came in...Kay Ashley, Debra, Patrick, Rose & her husband Jim, Brian, Bob Sartorius, Victor (a special surprise!) We had a couple of rounds of drinks and shared some gab, and then went to "Thai Taste" for a great meal, peppered of course with some excellent conversation. I really enjoyed getting to meet Debra, and talking with her and Bob is even more enjoyable than e-mailing with them. We had some great Joni conversations! One of the more interesting topics we discussed was what Joni would have done had the "Mingus" opportunity not presented itself. An interesting question...Bob is of the opinion that DJRD was a progression from Hejira that wasn't allowed to continue on and fully flower...I stated that Mingus was a natural growth of DJRD...anyway, it was very enjoyable. Debra also gave me a nice Richard Thompson show and some other goodies. What a joy to finally meet this lovely and brilliant woman, one of my favorite posters here. Rusty was able to join us at the restaurant, and we pretty much closed it down and returned to Judy's for more hijinx, conversation, and a nitecap. They had some live music, and of course it didn't take Victor long to jump in and start singing & playing! Long about 2 it was time to bust up...poor Stephen was turning into a pumpkin, and I was pretty beat myself. It had been quite a day! Bob S. swung around and picked us up in his car and motored us back to Stephen's. Very grateful for the lift, Bob...(because it was raining pretty good by now) And there was a traffic jam at 2AM, which I found pretty amazing. So that's the rest of the story...Sunday like I said we caught the Diltz exhibit, and did more footing around, popping in record stores all over that part of town. MAJOR thanks to Stephen, a good guy and a great friend. Hope I get to return the hospitality someday! Also thanks to all the rest of my JMDL pals who gave up their time to make it a knockout weekend and one that I'll never forget. Now I'm getting fired up for the fest! Bob NP: Richard Thompson, "Shoot Out The Lights" 8/13/94
