Thursday
I land at JFK around 10:00. I walk to the AirTrain with my stupid heavy bag that just had a strap break. I stand at the air train for about fifteen minutes. There is a man in the station with an official looking uniform on. Finally, someone asks him, "when is the train coming?"
He looks at him, blinks, and replies, "oh. It's not coming. It's broken."
AWESOME. And that was when I paid $50 for a cab to Erin's house. New York City, ladies and gentlemen!
I hung around at Erin's for a little while, before going to get in line at the Bowery around 2:00. Keeping in mind that doors were at 7, this was a rather long wait. But it's Regina Spektor - she's worth every minute of freezing my toes off. Plus, Srg and Bruce and George and all sorts of new, fun friends were there. Eventually we were let in and we secured our spots by the stage. I even got to see Patti (!!!) and my roommate from senior year, Elina, who I had no idea was into Regina.
The first act, The Bloodsugars, were pretty cute. This is their lead singer:
Then Ra Ra Riot played - they were also pretty amazing, and their cellist was really gorgeous. Here she is:
Their lead singer looked like Caleb Followill with meat on his bones, but I didn't really get any good pictures of him.
Then - oh, then - there was Regina. Lovely, wonderful, perfect Regina. I could go on and on about the show, how I have missed seeing her, how she played Reginasaurus, how she played Human of the Year and forgot the words, how she played Dance Anthem of the 80s (!!!) which she hasn't played in years. But I won't...except I just did. Oops?
Anyway, here's another of my favorite pictures from the show:
After the show, we waited outside for a good long while. Erin went and got me pizza, Bruce gave me a lawn chair (haha), and we waited patiently until Mama and Papa Spektor came out. We were told, "she's coming right now!" by a very good-natured Mama Spektor.
Regina came out after that and was first accosted by the Australians who were there to see her. Bruce (who also came from Australia) hung back, but Regina soon pulled him over and had a quiet moment with him, and signed his original copy of 11:11, getting very emotional when she realized that he'd won the eBay auction for it and spent a lot of money and it was really, really sweet.
After that, she turned her attention to our group and was so cute. She gave us an impression of her Halloween costume, and she told us some pretty cool details about the new album - there might be NEW songs on it, and she knows that we're the group of fans who have heard every song ever. She thanked Srg for running reginaspektor.net and even mentioned that she'd been there earlier that day looking for Reginasaurus lyrics.
I asked her to sign my ticket after that:
I'm writing the conversation in script form because I won't remember it otherwise.
Me: I was at the Ryman show - both of them.
Regina: Oh my gosh, the Ryman shows! Nashville was so great. Well. The second time. The first time was one of the worst times of my life. [For those who don't know Regina fandom, the first time she was in Nashville, she passed out with severe vertigo during soundcheck and had to cancel the show.]
Me:: Did they take you to Vanderbilt hospital?
Regina: I honestly don't remember, I was so out of it. I just remember, you know, the doctor who was taking care of me, his 13 year old son was in the audience of the show, and he was telling me that his son was probably wondering if I was coming...but then he told me I couldn't go. He was the nicest man and he just took such good care of me but they had me on so many drugs!
Me: I'm glad they took good care of you and that you were able to make it back!
Regina: Isn't the Ryman amazing?
Me: The acoustics are insane, aren't they?
Regina: Yes! And it's not even just the sound but you're backstage and there's like the Dolly Parton room and the Johnny Cash room and it's just so cool and...okay, so, because it's a tourist thing they have tour groups going through and I was doing soundcheck. And because I'm always so paranoid anyway during that I couldn't play while they were there, so I'm sure the tour guides were going, 'la-dee-da there is some girl playing the piano' and it was really embarrassing.
Me: At that point you just sort of want to start going, "um, sorry I'm not Loretta Lynn!"
Regina: Exactly! Exactly! But it was so great. I love Nashville, and thank you so much for coming up here to see me tonight.
Me: Well, I used to live in New York before I moved to Nashville and I would come see you all the time, but when I heard about this show I knew I'd never get to see you in a room this small again so here I am.
Regina: *nods and says either "I remember" or "I know"*
Me: *grins like an idiot because she remembers me*
Regina: I'm so glad you came!
She talked with us some more about the new album after that, before saying that her parents were giving her a ride home so she had to go get in the car. And Srg and George were like, "um, Reg, Mama Spektor is asleep." And sure enough, her mom was asleep in the car, and she was like "ack!" So she went and got in the car after that, and as she's leaving she's hanging out the window and hollering "thank you Bruce! Thank you all! Thank you for the Dot-Net!"
After that, we took a cab back to Brooklyn and went to sleep.
Friday
Erin and I wake up around 10:00 after all of our Regina adventures. Well, I woke up around 9:30 and showered and whatever and then played around on the Internet and uploaded pictures. After Erin got ready, we went to get lunch at a diner near her house.
We went to the Brooklyn Museum in the afternoon, where there was a fantastic exhibit of feminist art. We couldn't stay long, because we had to get back to her house to get ready for that night. Headed into the city, met up with Aiah, and went for dinner at a thai place that had super fabulous pad thai.
After that, well, it was Maggie time. The theater was a tiny little blackbox, couldn't hold more than maybe 150-200 people. Maggie made her first entrance, literally, right next to us. She is so, so, so gorgeous and talented an amazing and the play was wonderful. Sarsgaard was really good too, but...you know. We're Maggie people. Meryl Streep's daughter was in the play as well, and she looks just like her mom and has the same mannerisms, etc. that her mom has. So I figure that seeing Mamie do the play is as close as I'll ever get to seeing Young Meryl onstage.
We went to wait by the stage door, and an usher came out and told us people had already left and we kind of freaked out because um, OH MY GOD, if I didn't meet Maggie after all that. But! Soon! The door opened, and out came Sarsgaard followed by Mamie. Normally we would have talked to them but um, we didn't want to miss a Maggie opportunity. But then! Then! She was there! Oh my goodness, she came out and she is SO TALL. She's taller than me, and I am a tall lady.
Erin approached her first, and said something like, "Maggie? Could we bother you for an autograph?" She was immediately so gracious, and said "of course". Aiah said something about how the three of us are friends because of Maggie, because we all went to see her movies together and bonded over our mutual adoration of her. I'm not sure if she completely understood, because we were all three talking at once, and at one point Aiah was saying that she thought Secretary was a beautiful love story, and this happened:
Maggie: Wait, the play was a beautiful love story?
Aiah: No, the movie.
Maggie: Oh, the movie.
Me: Yeah, the play was sort of a terribly depressing love story.
Maggie: *laughs* Right, exactly.
I realized later that Uncle Vanya isn't really a love story at all but I was too dumbfounded by her presence to say anything smarter than that. Sigh.
Anyway, she signed our autographs, and when she got to mine I told her I'd come from Nashville for the show and she said, "oh, cool! Thank you so much." Before personalizing my autograph.
Because she is great.
"Jenny, Best Wishes, Maggie Gyllenhaal"
I. Can. Die. Now.
After that we went to the show of a friend of ours, and my friends Annie and Kristin were there, which was nice. We got a little drunk, proceeded to get bagels, went back to Erin's, and I slept for eight million years.
Saturday
Woke up really late, ate eggs and toast and watched Mad Men. Then went into the city to meet our friend Michelle at Benny's Burritos. Had lunch, went to Tea & Sympathy, then Michelle drove us home. I packed my things, said goodbye to Erin, and took a cab to Aiah's, where we had a lovely evening of brie and good conversation. Then this morning, I woke up, caught my flight, and here I am at home.
Honestly, couldn't have been a better trip.
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