Wanted Wednesday: Central Park, July 12, 2008

(sorry it's a little late today)


Please rise, for the singing of our national anthem...

Central Park.

What an adventure.

Back in September, we talked about the "Richie Birthday" Wanted and I promised we'd dig into the CP one a little.

It was a hell of a weekend.

After blowing out my knee in Boston, we made it back to the hotel we were staying at and put a bag of ice on my knee.  After a while, I was able to get down to my car (pre-Darlin', I had a Tahoe -- thank goodness for big cars!), and drove my girlfriend back home with me.

The next day, Fiction Mistress, Willow, and BAJG took the train out to close-by-me, and with yet another bag of ice strapped to my knee, we started the long, detour-laden trip to NYC.  We detoured to Gillette Stadium to pay a lil bit of homage.  We detoured to a McDonald's for a bit of a nosh.  We detoured to NJ, though not on purpose.  The little bitch in my GPS had me in the wrong lane at a bridge, and instead of getting off the thruway, we got on the bridge.  Then we had to pay $7 for the privilege of leaving New Jersey.  

SO many experiences around Times Square.  There was the albino snake guy (the snake was albino, not the guy) and FM and I tried on the gorgeous, heavy python for a mere $10 apiece.  There was the fantastic Italian with the cutest little waitress serving us, and we basically closed down the place.  If I recall correctly, we sang Happy Birthday to Richie in the restaurant, though he elected not to join us (lol).

Then there was the park.

I'd never been to Central Park, and had no idea of the vastness of it.  I've been to the Public Gardens in Boston, and some of the parks here in and around town, but they're piddly compared to CP.  Willow and FM left for the park early to find where the "disabled entrance" was.  There was NO way I was going to be able to hobble my way safely up the whole park to be near the stage.  Once they were settled, BAJG and I headed over to meet them.  We scored spots on the lawn about maybe 25 rows' worth from the stage and planted ourselves there for the duration.

We met some great folks:

• Denver, with her sister and gorgeous denim jacket...
• Angel, the 13-ish year old girl who sprayed us with water to keep us cool...
• Jodi, whose friend decided last second not to go, and absconded with her tickets, so she hung with us...
• Jodi's sweet husband who not only FOUND us on the Lawn, but helped me out when the crowds were jostling...

And there were some pretty funny/sweet moments:

• The mile-long ride snaking to the port-o-lets
• Being stopped by one of the reporters on-site to chat a moment
• Getting a huge bag of ice from one of the drink vendors for my knee
• Finding out about the SOUL win and making impromptu signs (that Jon saw later)
• Waiting about 2 minutes for a TAXI after the concert.  2 minutes.  That's it.

And some not-so-great moments, like Willow getting her camera stolen.

But GAH what a show.  You could tell, you could just SEE that the guys were so beyond pumped to be playing Central Park.  With all the places they've been, and all the things they've done, the excitement in their faces was completely visible, and the energy they gave off was totally palpable.

It was an amazing night, capping off one of the best weekends of my adult life.

Let's Ride!





You can download this track here.

And thanks to TheSchemer, if you weren't able to score your free tickets to the event, you can watch the video below:



~ Hath