Bounce - Todd Collins

I Have Always Depended on the Kindness of Strangers: New York and Back in 24 Hours

On Saturday my parents were supposed to pick up a rental car so my mother and I could drive to Long Island and see the Who at Nassau Coliseum. Early Saturday morning they left to do their taxes and by the time they finished they just missed the closing of the rental place and didn’t pick up the car. As if they were talking about the weather they notified me about the car issue and the likely possibility of missing the concert. We looked into a few other options, but we would have been stuck in New York until Monday morning and there was no way that would have worked for us. It was then I knew I wasn’t going to make it to Nassau and posted so on the board. Apparently my father kept asking my mother if I was mad at her and she kept saying, "no, but she’ll be mad at you when I tell her what you did."

What my father failed to mention is that he somewhat slowed down the process on purpose. He knows how much I love concerts and would never want to see me upset however he really didn’t want me to go to New York, again, and spend money on a concert, again. Although the taxes thing was slowing them down, he certainly wasn’t in a hurry to make it to the rental place. In retrospect, if he wanted to save me money he should have just picked up the freaking rental car!

The one thing my father should know about me by now is that when I really want something no is not a word in my vocabulary.

Lisa (whofanatic) asked if I was able to make it to where she lived in New Jersey and she could take us from there. I thanked her for the offer, but declined. She gave me her cell phone number in case I changed my mind and mentioned a train station near the turnpike on her way that she could pick us up at. After looking over the schedules I saw that it might be crazy enough to work and we planned that I would take a train in and she would drive us to Nassau and drop us back off after the show. My father was not pleased that I found a magic train (I left out the part about Lisa) to New York and back, but didn’t object. Knowing what I know now it was best he didn’t.

9am Sunday morning I got up and packed everything we needed. I woke my mother up at 9.30am and we needed to leave the house by 10 (our train left at 11.20). We left at 10.20am which meant we had an hour to get to the train station and pray we don’t miss it. I dropped my mother off at the station and found an illegal parking space (I convinced myself that I would pay for the ticket and/or impound fee if I could make the train) and rushed back to the station to find my mother standing at the ticket booth with a grim expression on her face. We had missed the train. After a small argument, we decided to take the next train to New York that arrived at 4.30pm. I called Lisa and told her what happened and asked her if she was still willing to take us back to the station in New Jersey after the show. She said yes and we were on our way. There was a nice man on the train that gave us oranges because we didn’t pack any food and we both only had two waffles before leaving.

I made a post about missing the train and John (midnighter) told us to take the Long Island Railroad and a cab to get to Nassau once we reached NY. He also sent along his cell phone number incase something should come up, but I was feeling confident that we wouldn’t have any problems once we got there. Four hours later we arrive in NY, a half hour behind schedule, and buy tickets for the LIRR that left at 5.48pm. We stopped at the K-Mart that was there so I could purchase flowers for all the people who offered to help me out (whofanatic, midnighter, and whoareyu). There were no flowers so I went with chocolate and it HAD to be Hershey’s because it wouldn’t right if it wasn’t. I got John the assorted bag because he said that the next time he had one he would be reminded of me dressing up as various chocolate candy. We were told that our train would leave from platform 21 and we went down there early so we wouldn’t miss it. I kept hearing a call for Hempstead/Jamaica and asked my mother if she heard what I did however we were told that this was our platform and didn’t move until the sign above said Babylon. That’s when we went back upstairs and questioned what was going on. Another woman told us that we missed the train and she didn’t know why they directed us to platform 21. The next train out to Long Island was at 6.48pm. For a moment I panicked. Then I called John to see how much damage had just been caused. Perhaps it wasn’t as bad as I thought….

Nope. It was that bad.

He explained to me that it would take at least an hour for the train to get there and then another 20 minutes for the cab to get to Nassau. We discussed the option of him picking us up because he happened to be going through the city even though he hadn’t planned on it and was only 15 minutes away from where we were. I knew it was crunch time and told him I didn’t want him to risk missing the show for me, but we talked it over a bit more and I caved. Soon after, like a knight on a white horse (or in this case a white car), he pulled up, I killed his cooler with mom's wheelchair and we crammed into his backseat. I felt so bad for JP! There’s nothing like getting to know a person than sharing ass space with them. He said he didn’t mind and if that’s the truth or not I don’t care to know, but at least he was kind enough to lie about it. Bless him. The nice thing was I was finally able to meet John, JP and Sharon who were nothing but lovely to us. We discussed things about the forum and shared a few laughs. Had there been a little more room for all of us in the back and if traffic wasn’t so terrible I would say it was a perfect way to meet.

Speaking of traffic, it was terrible. On the way to Nassau wasn’t so bad, but trying to get to the actual venue was a nightmare. It was backed up for at least 45 minutes and the clock was ticking closer and closer to showtime and we were all getting a bit nervous (except for my mother who could care less and was half asleep). A wave a relief came over us when we finally reached the entrance of the parking lot. John, who hadn't gone to the bathroom for hours, jumped out of the car and ran across a parking lot to a fence to relive himself. He was so totally embarrassed by that, but I only saw the humor in the moment and I'm glad it happened. I think it was one of our major bonding moments. John dropped us off at the doors and we would meet up with him later. Mom and I rushed over to the box office to see if they had any tickets left for her. I was hoping to upgrade myself, but since it was almost 8.30pm, and with everything that happened earlier, I was lucky to be there and wasn’t going to bother asking. She got a ticket, we went through the doors (they didn’t stop us to scan or check our bags), and found her seat. I then rushed to the floor to find my seat. I set my bag down, sat down (6th row, Pino’s side), saw Lisa and wanted to get her attention, but 60 seconds later the lights went out and Pete was walking across the stage.

I compare each show to Philly I. That was the show that turned me from just liking the Who to really loving the Who and I think it’s that emotional attachment to Philly I that all the others I’ve seen don’t compare. However, Nassau was still a fantastic show.

The band’s energy was really good. Roger seemed like he was having a good time as he smiled a lot when looking out into the audience. Pete was in his element and his playing was top notch and that black jacket was the best thing to happen to him or at least to a Pete fangirl. Also, during AAA, the screens showed both John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the montage and I was torn at what to look it. Do I watch the screens to see my beloved Beatles or do I watch what’s happening on stage?

Roger’s voice was fine though it looked like he was struggling during WAY a few times. He played with the phrasing of songs (which was throwing MY signing off) and added fun accents to a few lyrics in others (like, "Doo-Dah Band" and "open legs"). I was really excited they played RGLB as it’s one of my favorites. Roger did it justice and they went into the mini opera after that. I liked that the screens made a "curtain" for that set. I don’t know why, but I was surprised to see that there were still a lot of people who didn’t know the new stuff. I don’t know it by heart either, but I at least know the chorus to each song and most of the verses. Pete changed the lyrics to Endless Wire from "he gathered wire and angles" to "he gathered wire and ASSHOLES" while pointing to a clump of guys in the center section. Don’t know what they did to provoke him, but it was amusing. Roger also forgot the words to Mirror Door. I thought it was me, singing the wrong words, until he pulled the microphone away in defeat and looked over at Pete who was shaking his head and finished the line for him. Roger laughed it off.

BOR received huge applause which prompted Pete to tell us about the whole festival thing. So did EF or at least from the guy behind me. A lot of people sat down during MIAPD, but stood up again during BWE. WGFA is always a crowd pleaser and then they were off. Four people next to me left to which I thought "SUCKAS!", but perhaps they just wanted to beat the traffic. I’ll never understand that.

No NE for the encore and I guess someone in the audience asked for Relay because Pete said something about playing it.

After the show I finally met up with Lisa and saw Donna (whoareyu) for a moment and then she was gone. We decided to wait by the ramp to which John was kicking himself for not bringing his Tommy vinyl like I did and I thought I was going to hurl. All the smoke in the venue gave me a headache and it probably didn’t help that I had nothing to eat since the orange that guy gave us since we figured we would eat something at the show. Pete left in a van (or at least we think) to a helicopter waiting in the parking lot so nothing was signed.

Lisa and I picked up my mother (who was waiting in line for the bathroom while I was at the ramp) and she drove us to the train station in NJ. We thanked her again for taking us and she was off for home. The station was closed. There was a security office for the parking garage and we talked to the gentleman in there about the train. We were 2 ½ hours early with no where to sit so he said we could stay in the office to stay warm. Mom wanted to know if I had any breath mints for her to chew on and I pulled out the chocolate that was meant for whoareyu only we both had given up chocolate for Lent. It was then I took Karli’s approach and opened the bag saying, "God will understand."

The train came and we had to switch over in Philadelphia. It was there we found a McDonald’s where the guy behind the counter was giving the customer a lesson in manners (that did not go over well, btw). Also, though I didn’t see it, there were about four of five cops in the station apparently arresting someone. I totally missed it. We tried to get to the platform, but the elevator was out so my mother had to get on the escalator. After that, though, everything went smoothly. I slept for a little on the train and made it back home at 9am.

It was the craziest 24 hours of my life, I suppose it could have been worse, but to see the Who I’d do anything. Obviously.