DaveCon 2002
What's the Deal with AFLers and Giant Trip Reports?
Helen's Huge, Massive, Big Honkin' Trip Report
by Helen P. Read
Part II: The Big Day!
Thursday morning, June 20. After less than four hours sleep, I got up and drove to the airport. I had gotten up in the pre-dawn twilight, but by the time I left the house around 5:00 or so it was fully light, and looked like it would be a beautiful day. There was a surprising amount of traffic on the interstate--not rush hour traffic, mind you, but more than I expected to see at 5 a.m. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, so I had a little breakfast and sat people watching after getting all checked in.
The flight from Burlington down to New York (on the usual turboprop--I have yet to fly on one of those small jets) was troublefree. I had assigned myself a window seat on the lefthand side of the plane, so that I'd have a good view of the Green Mountains as we headed south. It was sunny and clear, and the mountains did not disappoint. On the way into Laguardia, I got a great view the Statue of Liberty (which I hadn't seen on previous trips), and some other landmarks like the Empire State Building.
I grabbed a cab from the airport, and was at the hotel by 9:30 or so, a bit early for checking in, but fortunately they had a room ready. This year I was staying at the DoubleTree, at Broadway and 47th, the same place I stayed on my first trip two years ago. Last year I stayed at the Best Western President, which was cheaper, but since I would be hosting the "chick" party this year, I decided to go back to the DoubleTree, where I had a nice suite comprising a bedroom and living room (each with its own TV), and a seriously huge bathroom. The living room had a sink, a mini-refrigerator and a small microwave. For all this, the price was really not bad, especially by New York standards.
After getting settled in the hotel, I went out for a walk. The first place I went was right up Broadway, stopping at 53rd to see if anyone from AFL was hanging around outside the Ed Sullivan Theater. I didn't see anyone I recognized, so I walked over to Rockefeller Center, where I found a place to sit for a while. It's always interesting just watching all the different people going by. A little later I walked by the Ed again, still not seeing anyone I recognized, though I did see a few Late Show staffers with clipboards, giving out tickets to passersby. Then I walked back down to Times Square, where I saw a guy billed as the "Naked Cowboy" standing there in his underpants with a red guitar. It was a definite "Is This Anything?" moment. (No, I don't think it was anything, and I didn't even take a picture.) I also saw another Late Show clipboard-person several blocks from the Ed, down around 46th St.
Then it was back to the hotel, where I burned a little time checking out the cable TV, which I can't get at home. Finally, it was time. Around 2:00, I walked back up Broadway to meet up with the rest of the AFL entourage at the Manhattan Chili Company (right next door to the Ed). This is one of the greatest parts of the trip, hanging out with friends from AFL live and in person. It's very much like a family reunion, where you have a chance to catch up with people you know but don't get to see very often.
So, let's see, who all was there? There were old DaveCon friends Traci Gilland, Carl (Deaconblues), Renee Stravitz (EZMAMA1D), Karen "Kelly" Lynch, Brad Hill, Bill Lehecka, Shirlee (Foxyscribe), Rona, Lance, Rocco, Marilyn, Nick (Cybergolem), Libby, Ann (Malficent) and her daughter Sarah, Kate (Pepsi), Cheryl Levenbrown, Chad Riden, Greg Donofrio (Westerner), Cathy Doyle, and new friends Micah (Ballodisco), Steve (of "This Dave"), Brady, and Mr. Cranky himself, Dave Sikula. Don "Donz5" Giller stopped by to say hi, with better timing than usual. (On each of the last two trips, Don showed up at the exact moment when we were being led into the theater.)
We sat and had lunch together like a big, extended family. Don passed out copies of his CD (which I haven't had time to listen to yet). Traci passed out snazzy DaveCon 2002 buttons featuring Dave in a "Do You Like the Lining" pose and the "Is This Anything" logo. Karen and Brad gave out T-shirts. The shirts are terrific. Karen (with the help of her sister) designed them with "DaveCon" in the Late Show font, and "June 20, 2002" underneath it in the cursive "with David Letterman" font. The colors were supposed to be yellow on navy blue, just like the Late Show T-shirts, but they ended up yellow on purple. It's a lovely purple, and I love the shirt, but Karen, don't leave anything up to Brad next time, okay?
Around 4:30 we went down and lined up outside the Ed. We were soon let into the lobby, where we picked up our tickets for the big show. Renee, our ticket queen, had once again arranged with Late Show Audience Executive David Kay to have our tickets dotted so that we would be seated right up front, close to Dave. All right!
Then it was back up to the Chili Company until around 5:45, when it was time to line up for the Big Show. We lined up at the head of the special section for dotted ticket holders outside the Ed. Brad was worried that people at the front of the line might be sent to the balcony, but I was pretty certain that it's the "guests of CBS," with different markings on their tickets, who are seated at the front of the balcony, and that the dots ensured us of orchestra level seating. This turned out to be correct, and it was absolutely the right move to take the front of the dotted line.
By this time we're all *seriously* pumped up to see Dave.
Meanwhile, a small group of dotted people cut in line, right in the middle of our group. There was a woman and her boyfriend, and maybe another couple with them. Well, the woman insisted it was fine for her to cut in like this, because the page told her it doesn't matter where they are in the line, as long as they are in the dotted area. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. It wouldn't make a difference to *her* where she was in the line, but it would make a big difference to us. Cutting into the middle of our group would mean that we would not all be seated together. We told her to take her group to the front of the line, or the back of the line, just don't split us up. She kept insisting she should stay right there, and then had the nerve to tell us, standing there with a dotted ticket in her hand, that she was only there because of her boyfriend, and she herself is more of a Leno fan. Someone should have ripped the dot off her ticket right then and there.
After waiting in line for a while, we were finally ushered into the lobby, and only then did we manage to get the interloper Leno fan and her group to the back of the dotted line so that the AFL would be seated as a group. Marilyn passed out Altoids. They were curiously strong. The pre-show speech that we had to endure seemed worse than ever this year. Yes, there is some basic information that they need to convey (no wooing, no bathrooom breaks), but the speech was awfully condescending and went on far too long this time. You'd think they could take into account that this is a group of real fans; we know the drill, and we don't need to be told how to behave in Dave's house. The audience prep speech was nothing, though, because soon enough we'd be inside the theater to see Dave himself.