A Word from the General- CHAlloween

[policefan]

Thanks Perryl,

finally a good picture of Sally

[sameoldbuttercup]

UnbeLEEEEEVably cool I'm happy just to have been able to describe what I saw here to an SC.netter who couldn't get online

Fab photos, incredible reviews... what a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Thanks to everyone who shared theirs!

[sockii]

>Super hero has been rotting in his grave. Gets dug up, eats small
>child, plays concert.

That is completely made of win.

Oh, and on the comments about the audience--we had a really shitty crowd in Section 69 as well. Two guys right in front of us who spent the entire night drinking beer (and spitting it up on each other), talking through all of the "quieter" numbers; two girls behind us bitching about everyone standing up the whole night; a bunch of folks trying to sneak down to the front of the loge and no security to stop them; oh and best of all were three H U G E (I mean, phaty-sized) guys ready to start a fight in the aisle next to me. vespa pushed me inside for safety and tried to get em to cool it and only got his shoulder wrenched in the meantime. Took about five minutes for things to blow over but it was quite scary in the meantime.

Quite honestly I've NEVER had a good audience experience at the Garden and I've been everywhere now from the floor to behind the stage to good side seats to the nosebleeds. It just always seems to suck

[AnyOther]

Nice pics and video's Perryl! You sure had a good view of Stewart. Thanks!

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="Kim"]DM, don't worry, I didn't realize it was you either! In fact, I met a few people whose names I didn't catch. We'll meet up on the next leg, fingers crossed![/quote]

Deal.

Thanks, stevel!

Welcome, Celeste!

And thanks for the great report and photos and video, perryl. The Flag Point pic is fabulous, and Lee the Bee is a total hoot.

[GinaSuperCat]

PapaCat, after perusing the pics, is pretty sure that the superhero that was rotting in his grave before being dug up etc., etc. was one of the COBRA agents from GI Joe <giggle> PCat is the one person on the planet who can out geek me FFS and I think its possible that he might be right <grin> And STEWART is the coolest, ever!

I am absolutely wiped and will spare you the usual unnecessary 5 page post that I usually have to edit down from sheer SQUEE but I'm just going to have to leave it to this: I basically had the time of my life on Halloween, will never forget it, know that the Police rule the f*in Planet Rock, and completely adore you all!!!!

We just ordered about half of the Chinese takeout menu and are going to completely check out over here and then I'll probably sleep like 14 hours. I have some pics and a few Stewart Copeland Percussion Show clips I'll add as soon as I can!

[perryl]

I was worried my review was a bit long winded

I'm sooooooo glad at least that 1 Point pic came out...I had the camera ready at the end of every song

I'm still pretty shagged out myself...DM, you must be freakin' exhausted after last night...staying up past sunrise...you go girl!!!

I think that extra hour of sleep is really going to come in handy tonight hehe...i'm hoping for a niiiiiiiiiiice long sleep too Gina! Right about till the Pat's game comes on tomorrow afternoon...that might get me caught up!

I don't know how some of you do this show after show...I think i'd have dropped dead by now!!!

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="perryl"]I was worried my review was a bit long winded [/quote]

Haha. Never be worried about that. We've got some doozies over here. The Mouth himself is our leader, after all.

<*ducks*>


[quote="perryl"]I think that extra hour of sleep is really going to come in handy tonight [/quote]

Oh, THANK GONG. I had forgotten about that. Stewart Claus has answered my wish of an extra hour in the day. Thank you, Stewart Claus!

[samburusunset]

I felt like Stewart's unearthed superhero when I woke up today. Had a whirlwind couple of days and then crashed hard when I got home from work yesterday. (BRB - have to get more caffeine...) (you may need some too, it's a long-un')

OK, all set. Amtrak'd it up to The Big Apple from B'more Wednesday afternoon. Trekked over to the hotel of the lovely Ms. Tobin-Jones who so graciously shared her quarters with me. She greeted me at the door in all her shameless floozieness. What a tart! I dropped off my stuff and changed into my costume which was inspired by my screen name: The Rhythmatist (natch)! We hopped a cab over to Annie's and met the other SCnetters and TPTers. Everyone had such great costumes and it was so nice to see old buds again (GinaSuperCat, NancyRose, DirtyMartinii, Conroy, Pluto, Donna,) and meeting new ones (sockii, vespapod, moeskido, mtbinjnes, perryl, sect404, susan and others). The flag was
produced, ooowwed and aaawwed over and signed by a few and the SCnetters posed with it for a few pics. I think our 'squeeeeeeeeing' was a bit, um, well, I think the other patrons were glad to see us leave. ( Why say "Cheese" when you can "squeeeeeeee" for pictures?? )
Had no trouble *at all* getting my camera into The Garden. They were more concerned with what was in my Rhythmatist bag (Challoween tee, authentic Rhythmatist Vater sticks, mini-keyboard for composing on the savannah, mirror shades, white gloves, CHA wristbands, Cha-balls).
My seat was GREAT! As many have already commented, many of us were just to Stewart's left practically within 100 yds or so of each other. Which is pretty amazing considering all the tickets were purchased separately, at different times, through separate outlets (Makes one wonder about fate and the order of things in the universe [to a small degree]). Section to the left had DM and Moe avec le flag ('Hey Kel! Hey Moe!' <waves>), 10 rows down from them (and practically within spittin' distance) are Nancy, Meg , Sally and Pluto ("Hey guys!") <waving>. Next to me are Sockii and Vespapod. We're like the 3rd row up in our section. One section over are GinaSuperCat ("Hey Gina!") <waves> (and I'm sorry I don't remember her seat mate) and then there's our bee lady, Perryl. The view was great. It's like having them perform in your living room (if only ) FP do their usual good job. LOVE Pete's version of Stewart! Hysterical! Joe and Seton have donned groovy Superfly fro's. Joe's sportin' a basketball uniform. He's got nice legs Our seats are such that Vespa is giving reports, "I just saw Stewart spraying something on his head." We can see a tangle of legs and pipes and make the occasional ID through the gaps in the stage. Was that Stewart or just Pete? Darn that Pete!

The opening drum beats of "Get up, Stand up" have a Pavlovian affect on me. Every time I hear it, I go from levelheaded adult to weak kneed, squeeeeeing, 15 year-old, "Stewart's coming! Stewart's coming!" I bounce up and down on my toes and clap my hands excitedly. I keep my eye on the gong waiting for Stewart to emerge. I see movement!! A cape! Ooooh, a silver cape! He slips in front of the gong and whips the cape out from behind him with a dramatic flourish. Stewart's in costume!! It's not little green shorts, but he's got a silver cape! Cool! Sting's Harlequin and Andy's Charlie Chaplin! Are these guys the coolest band in the world or what!!!??? I can tell this show is going to fucking rock!
When he steps down from the perc stage I get a better look at the costume. All the lighting doesn't help much. I can just tell the top is quilted and has GOT to be hot as hell and that the cape won't last long. They weren't one verse into Message when the damn thing started to get in the way. You get to see all kinds of cool stuff when you sit by the side of the stage. Someone came up to try and rein in the cape. That helped a little but not for long. As you know, it was 86'd around the time Grandmother was screaming at the wall. I kept thinking that cape was a bad call. What WAS he thinking. Thank you, though, Stewart! It was very dramatic while it lasted Now, the shirt. It's more like a jacket, really. Ahem, y'all know what happened. I'm thinking that thing has got to be hot as hell so I'm not surprised when he decides to change. Off it comes! OKAAAAAY. Not a problem. Thank god I'm sooo close to the stage. Ooooh little suspenders! Mmmm. He looks around and I think he may have said something like, "I'll be right back. " Stewart disappears down the ramp and I expect him to emerge wearing another shirt. But, nooooo. He comes back up shirtless <gulp!> He's got another shirt but it's in his hands and he proceeds to slither into it in front of oh, 50,000 people! <gulp!> I know of about 10 women in the vacinity who I love like SCnet sisters, but who I'd thwack with a Vater to get over to Stewart first to help him into his shirt! He really did have to change, but one couldn't help but think it was his counter to Sting's tight yoga-toned ass in his costume. (Sting's ass did look *reeeeeallly* nice) We may not have gone trick 'r treating on Challoween, but we had some pretty sweet eye candy!!!!!!!!!! Dietmar, thanks for solving the costume mystery with The Man.

The show *did* rock! I don't remember any proported mistakes. I was just having so much fun I didn't notice any miscues. Vespa scored some excellent hits with the Cha balls. I'm not really sure what they think of them but Andy played along and even shook his Chaplin cane in Perryl's direction once. Despite Stewart's costume malfunctions and a few technical difficulties he finally did spot the flag and pointed. Sockii and I were wondering if he really knew we were over there. After one of the flag points, he did this crazy multi-point to all of us. We squeeeed and said, "He *does* know we're here!" Squeeeeeee! It was a fabulous show.


STEWART YOU ROCK!


Post show festivities to follow.

[jennym]

Hello my dear lovies!
I am finally back in Austin and I cannot thank you all enough for the CHALLOWEEN of a life time! It was an emotional (like you did not notice) and incredible time for me. Meeting you all, seeing and signing the flag, and squeeing, singing, dancing and celebrating OUR COMMON LOVE was FUCKING AMAZING! I just cannot say enough about the the love, support and pure joy that you all have brought me. Dear Nancy and I had a "moment" talking about the generosity of the group and absolute sweetness everyone exudes! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Plus, it was so much fun going out in costume! Thanks for putting up with my crazy rambling and over the top enthusiasm.
My show experience was amazing! I was so fortunate to have 5th row seats center right. I had a clear shot of Andy all night. I have to say that he kept in character of Charlie Chaplin most of the evening. Seeing Stewart so close was a dream come true. Once again, it was a core physical experience to feel his passion behind the kit. And once again with all the dancing, jumping, screaming, squeeing and shaking my little butt, extra strength depends are in order.
The crowd down on my level was fun and very active. I had two very large men (over 6ft) standing in front of me so I had a challenging time taking pictures. Over my left shoulder one row behind me was ANDY'S WIFE and two of their friends. After the show we noticed that they had Andy Summer's guest badges on and we asked if they were related and she said, yes wife! OH MY GOD! Okay, something is very wrong with me! I became tongue tied. All I could do was to thank her and her family for sharing Andy and that it was such a gift and he is so wonderful and thank you for sharing you life in his book and ramble, ramble, ramble, oh and is your home safe and the folks on the message boards were thinking of you all. I WAS so incredibly silly! OYE!
Oh my, oh my! The Post show gathering was a blast. I am sorry that I bailed early. I hit the wall and became cross eyed! It really was awesome and you all so kind and absolutely fantastic. I must figure out how to work my new camera and I will post pictures soon!
Safe travels to all for future shows.
SAN ANTONIO here I come! Hey, who else is coming down for the show??
Hugs and kisses to you all! JennyM

[samburusunset]

The show was over all too soon. Headed off to Tir Na Nog for post show drinks. Meg was achin' for some BACON! and we all tucked into breakfast at the Tick Tock Diner in the wee hours. Meg got up early for a biz meeting the next day but I slept in. Got a call from DM that she, Gina and Nancy were going to Andy's photo exhibit at the Milk gallery and asked if I wanted to join them. I'd meet them there after I got dressed. I was just about ready to leave when Pluto arrived and decided to go too. We met the girls at the gallery and took in Andy's photos. They do show the loneliness and tedium of the grind of the life they led. I like the toilet paper with "HELP" written on it. It shows the humor and wit of a man with too much time on his hands and an actual SOS for his situation. Meg joined us about the time I finished looking at the photos and checked out the prints for sale. The small ones were a relative bargain at $600. The 'medium' sized ones were a cool $900. And for the sum of $3000 you could A) keep a small third world country fed for 6 months *or* B) buy the large version of one of Andy's prints. Kept my VISA card safely tucked away. Pluto went off to see his friend and the rest of us went in search of some lunch as none of us had eaten since 3:30 AM. We sat down and had a nice, leisurely lunch and enjoyed each other's company. Then DM split to head home and the rest of us headed over to Taschen's store to queue up for Andy's book signing. PoliceRule was on her way from Philly and would meet us there. There were 3 people in line when we arrived around 4:30. They let us stay inside until about 1 1/2 hours before and then we had to queue outside. It was getting dark and chilly and we were still T-x minutes and counting. PR showed up and kept us in stitches. There's nothing worse when you have to go to the bathroom, but are stuck waiting around without one, than when people are making you giggle and making pee-noises "Tsst." [BETSY: YOU ARE A TRIP!]
We finally got in to see Andy and get our books signed and snapped some quick pics. After everyone got thru the line we headed up the street to the bar around the corner. Surprise! Aaaah, alcohol and a lady's room!

We checked out our books and swapped our '30 seconds with Andy' stories and started imbibing. He was friendly and businesslike. But, didn't give the impression that he was really glad to see us or thankful we bought his book. He saw my name on the stick-um and started to sign. I said it was nice to meet him and stuck my hand out. He put the pen down, looked up and shook my hand and said "thank you." Told him I was at the show the night before and so glad to see them in costume. I said, "I gotta ask you, What the hell was Stewart supposed to be?" Andy finished signing as he said he wasn't quite sure either and mumbled something about maybe Stewart thought he was going trick 'r treating. I remembered the cobra on the headband and around the 3rd Cosmopolitan announced that Stewart was dressed and an asp-hat for Cha lloween! I think we were still wiping tears away when EQ arrived. EQ!!!!! It was great to meet him! He was sportin' those kool retro Krypton green and lemonade Nikes. Rob, we'll have to talk in Savannah. Another Cosmo and then we all headed to Arturo's for pizza and more adult bevvies.
Betsy, Gina and I stayed for quite a while after Meg, Pluto, and his friends left. We had another couple of rounds and a lot more laughs. I had switched to Diet Coke by then as I had to get up early and head home. We finally left around 2 and giggled our way to the garage where PR had parked, toting multiple 20 pound photography books with us. Left a 5:45 am wake up call. Got up, showered, dressed, packed and to the station by 6:40. Actually had time to kill before my 7:17 train arrived. Got back to B'more claimed my car and headed off to work (5 mins away). Pumped in caffeine and sugar and, "Oh my God! Can I go home and go to sleep now?" I made it through the day though and was welcomed by an email inquiring about my extra ticket for the DC show on Monday. I think I've got a buyer I staggered home from work, plopped down on the lazy boy and was basically out until today. I don't know how you guys did it!

I had sooooo much fun. I'm so glad I went to CHA lloween! The show totally rocked. The Boys are so cool! You guys can party like the best!
Stewart's the best damn drum playing decaying superhero I've ever seen.

[DirtyMartini]

Have uploaded some photos from Challoween and a couple of shots of the Flag at Andy's exhibit. Neither Moeskido nor I managed to get many decent shots at the concert somehow, but we've got some nice photos of the gang.

I haven't labeled any of them yet, and they are in random order at this point. But since it will be a while before I can get back to them, I wanted to just throw them out there for folks.


Challoween:
http://dirtymartiniii.smugmug.com/galle ... #216989099 (We were three rows behind Nancy, Pluto, and mtj, so you'll likely see quite a bit of their noggins.)


Andy's exhibit: http://dirtymartiniii.smugmug.com/galle ... #216991790


BTW, my absolute favorite is this one:
http://dirtymartiniii.smugmug.com/galle ... #217007401

[policerule]

i like this guy....

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/tonyblog/?p=2789

[policerule]

those pictures are really great DM!!! that one of nancy, meg & sally rocks!

all of your costumes look great too!

[perryl]

GREAT reviews guys and GREAT pics Kel! I love seeing the pics of Sally pumped with some life as by the time I saw her at the diner she was a bit flat


OK...who's going to the Boston Gahden show next Sunday! as of right now that is my last show (nuh uh!)...but come hell or high watah i'll see them again next year! Hoping the last show of the tour is ova here in the states...we just have to make that pre/post gathering one of epic proportions!!!

Miss you all *smooch*