I
know I have two previous posts with the same name (#48 and #352). I can’t help it! I AM wild about Harry!
If
you haven’t heard, Harry Connick, Jr. has a new TV show out called Harry.
(It airs locally on NBC at 11 a.m.)
Before
the show started, I entered a contest to win tickets to the show, which is
taped at the CBS Studios in New York City.
Both my friend Julie and I entered to better our odds. And we both won! We had three days to choose from and settled
on Thursday, Sept. 22. We did the
afternoon taping.
The
fine print on the tickets said there was no guarantee we would get in and that
they overbook. We were optimistic. I won tickets to see David Letterman over 20
years ago and they said the same thing and we got in. You just need to get there early.
Alyce,
Julie and I took a late (and delayed) flight to Newark Wednesday night, Sept.
21, and arrived around midnight. We have
been to NY several times but weren’t in full NYC mode and mistakenly caught a
limo instead of a taxi to the hotel.
Instead of it costing $50 it was $84.
Gulp!
This
was the first time I’ve been to NY and not stayed in Manhattan. Prices were too high. I don’t know if it was inflation or the
United Nations meetings, but we ended up staying at the Meadowlands River Inn
in Secaucus, New Jersey. The price was
good and it included breakfast. The bus
stop to the city was right across the street and was $8.50 for a round-trip
ticket. The bus took about 20-40 minutes
depending on traffic and let us off at the Port Authority near Time
Square.
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| The view of Manhattan from our bus. |
Thursday
was pretty much all Harry. We walked
toward the CBS building and I stopped at The Original Soupman for a mid-morning snack. I had a delicious mushroom and rice soup and
the bag it came in was like a clown car.
Soup, bread, an orange and a Lindt chocolate for $7. Sooo good!
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| "No soup for you! Next!" |
Julie
and Alyce got lunch down the street from CBS and then we got in line around
12:30 p.m. The ticket said 1 p.m. but
there were already maybe 50 people in line.
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| Hip, stylish and ready for Harry! |
A
little after 1 p.m. they gave us instructions and ushered us in to the holding
room.
Several producers walked around
talking to us and asking questions. The
show’s question of the day was, “You wouldn’t know this by looking at me but
…” I had nothing. You take one look at me and think I play
basketball or volleyball or something.
Alyce called one producer over and told her that Julie played roller
derby. They were interested! (For the record, I did tell another producer
that I was literally Harry’s biggest fan, then stood up and watched her eyes
get huge. She wrote down my name but nothing
ever came of it.)
Julie’s
producer kept coming back, while Julie kept cursing us, even while filling out her waiver.
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| Julie does not look happy |
Time came for the audience to be seated and
we had to wait in the holding room.
There were four groups waiting.
When they brought us in they placed us in various seats around the
studio (which was beautiful!).
Every
communication we had from the show was to dress “hip and stylish”. They said to avoid white and busy
patterns. I brought two outfits and
settled on a lavender dolman sleeve top, skinny jeans and my Franco Sarto
purple strappy 3” wedges. (I carried
them in a bag until we got to the studio.)
The
band played to get us warmed up (awesome!) and then Harry came out. Time for the show! He started off with the audience
question. One woman played quarterback
on a local football team, one woman was in the background in Dirty Dancing. A woman and her daughter had seen Harry in
concert for the past 20 years. She first
took her daughter when she was six years old.
She’s now 26. He remembered
them! It was so cute! (Although when the show actually aired, they
were cut.)
Then
Harry said, “Where’s Julie?” He asked
her questions about roller derby and she did a great job. And she got a hug. I just looked at him and thought, “He has
beautiful skin.” Ha
After
that, Harry gave away a trip to Mexico.
Each chair had a number on a piece of paper and they told us to keep the
number when we sat down. They called the
number and Vera, a super cute woman behind me, won. She was a retired teacher and a military
captain.
Harry
especially loves teachers and nurses, and said that is why he wanted to do his
show. To meet people like Vera. Awwwww!
The
main guest was Ken Jeung from Dr. Ken and The Hangover movies. He was hilarious! Harry also had a woman who makes dresses for
little girls from designs they create (Picture This). He finished with three women in a new movie
called Dirty Thirty.
Before
we knew it, the show was over. I
remember sitting there the whole time thinking, ‘We are actually here!” It was a blast.
We
got out of there around 4:30 p.m. It
took pretty much the whole day!
From
there, we walked to and around parts of Central Park and, after asking Julie’s
producer about places to eat, stopped at a less crowded Shake Shack on the Upper East
Side. We passed one near Time Square earlier
in the day and the line was out the door.
We found this one around 7 p.m. and it had a beautiful courtyard on the
side. I had the Shackburger, crinkle cut
fries and a chocolate shake. Soo
good!
As
we walked around the Upper East Side we saw an elegant woman (maybe late 60s)
come out of her building. She didn’t
look up, and walked out to the street looking at her phone. Soon after, the doorman ran out to the corner
and whistled to call a cab for her. She
silently opened the cab door and got in.
Impressive.
Day
two was the 9/11 museum, lunch with one of my friends who works at NYU, a walk
along the Hudson River to Battery Park, wandering through Little Italy and the
Feast of San Gennaro, dinner at Lil’ Frankie’s (another
suggestion from the producer) and back to the Port Authority. My calves were killing me!
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| I loved this quote in the 9/11 museum |
Saturday
we attempted to see Saturday Night Live The Exhibition,
which I was told last year would be there for “many years to come.” It had closed this past June. Heavy sigh.
I was greatly disappointed. I
seriously would have gone earlier if I had known it was closing. We walked back to the park and had lunch on a
huge rock just enjoying the people-watching.
We were lucky and had three beautiful, sunny days!
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| Lady Liberty view |
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| The Three Amigos along the Hudson River |
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| Our view atop our lunch perch in Central Park |
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| Bethesda Fountain |
We
caught an evening flight back to Indianapolis and I got home around 11
p.m. What an amazing trip! We experienced a lot, but most importantly,
we experienced them together! Julie and
I had seen a lot of the things before, but Alyce had not. We did see some new things and it was nice to
see other things again with someone else.
A fabulous three days!
And
all because of Harry …
