ah...part 3 of FLjen's review:

FLJen - 04:18pm Apr 6, 2004 PDT (#15264 of 15268)
Egyptian ring

III
After Waterville we decided to make the 4+ hour trek to Enfield, CT to the
Radisson where I made reservations for two nights. The deal being we didn't
know Westbury was reserved until after I made this plan otherwise we
certainly would have taken MrnDw up on his very generous offer to stay at
the condo.
It is very hard to stay awake once we got to the 2nd hour of driving but
stopping for coffee, telling jokes helped some. Waterville show didn't end
until 12:15am. So we FINALLY get to the Radisson, only to find out that the
f room I PREPAID for two nights and CONFIRMED that late night check in
wouldn't be a problem has been sold out from under us!!!!! It is 4:30am but
5:30am with the time change that night. I'm absolutely livid and start
swearing and screaming at the clerk. She gave me RRI address on a paper,
said we could stay there and
I threw it down on the floor. She tried
to get us to Red Roof Inn I said that wasn't acceptable and that she needed
to get the manager on the phone and get her ass in there THIS INSTANT. She
got nervous and called some high end hotels that were further away,
aparently also all booked up. Some security guy came down and tried to calm
me saying we could sleep in the upstairs lobby. Uh no thanks buddy, we're
camping
right here on lobby couches until you get me my room. Unprofessional for you ask me if I care. The manager comes and
apologizes says she will go clean a room for us as a crew of pilots just
checked out. Telling me there won't be a charge for tonight. I said yeah no
kidding! no charge for tonight nor tomorrow either because I'm simply not
going to stand for this... I'm normally quiet & soft spoken but couldn't
deal with this crap. We
get to the room somewhere 6:45 am, darken it and sleep until 11:00 am
(another low sleep night! this makes 3 in a row now) get up & ready and grab
lunch at Friendly's, I'm disoriented in that my days and nights are now
messed up. We
drive to Long Island which was a little tricky and the tolls nearly ate us
for lunch. I'm amazed that just yesterday we were in the mountains at a
secluded ski resort and now the landscape has morphed into deep urban. The
edge of the Bronx is so completely different from magical upper west side
Manhattan where we saw the Beacon shows last fall. Aparently there are two
sides to Brush Hollow, the street that the venue is on. Well MapQuest routed
us to the Nassau County Police Station instead of the venue!! We had a good
laugh about that one. We stopped at
a nearby house totally confused as we had followed the directions to the
T and double checked the address on our tickets. The gentleman told us to go
on the other side of the bridge, the venue is just two blocks down that way.
We thanked him in Spanish, si Senor.
We get there and it is raining hard now but starts to lighten up. We leave
the big lot and
Patrick gets pizza. I go in 7 Eleven and buy myself a cold Grolsch and
smokes. I only smoke on tour, never at home so I figure might as well live
it up and smoke some more before we go back home & our stagecoach turns back
into a pumpkin. We find most of tour family in the lot. Nice easy scene with
loads of
free parking. Looks to be little bit of nitrous but at least they are being discreet about it. We park on the side and then see that the RD bus is parked across
from us. Desperate folks with pleading eyes lined up at the barricade with things for RD to
sign, holding umbrellas, sporting ponchos. We hang out in the car & smoke
and I drink.
Time to go inside at 6pm. Yippee. I have no idea what to expect tonight and
as usual go in with open mind that way I'm not disappointed. I decide to
grab another drink wow are they ever expensive, thought to myself won't be
drinking anymore
here! I sip my gin & tonic and see TinyDancer. She's decked out in white
this time. We chat some about the band. I see this curtain behind the one
bar and too curious so I went and pulled it. Just another lounge inside
leading to nothing.
We enter the venue and the background is really pretty, pink and mauve
swirls. Find our seats, which aren't that great. The place fills up.
Show starts, WRS opener? wuh?? wow. I was feeling kinda girly & twirly so
this fit just right. I'm grooving in my seat trying hard not to bump the woman
on my left since she's drinking a rinky dink cup holding $6 + tip worth of
beer. I catch a vacant aisle seat in front of us and start whirling. I can
see Tiny's scarf flying around.
Bertha, Shade of Grey, both so lovely. Loose Lucy which I enjoyed this time for few reasons, Bury Me Standing--this is what I wanted some high faith songs this night and here is where they started to come out. I decided to join family down front since the people around us were too mellow their vibe was not what I wanted. So I inch my way up front. Twice the security guy came down "All right, everyone to their seats right now!" I squeezed in with this couple and acted like I was in their row. As soon as that joker left, we all crammed down there again. It was so very sweet, right where I wanted to be with the friendship love of Ken, Bird, Cousin Bud, Heather, Krystalle and some guy who I did not know. I could see Birdie few rows away doing her special stuff, in a row of people who were sitting. Bud got a side shot pic of her which is going to be absolutely beautiful. This stranger was getting into it as much as we all were. I've never danced so big in my life! My hands were floating around. The strange guy was high fiving me and Cousin Bud introduced us and the stranger initiated a hug so I reciprocated., knowing and feeling it wasn't a come on but that we were all on the same page, right there right then.
Greatest Story Ever Told* had us jumping up and down, ha I thought Kenny could see us because he started jumping too.>
Somewhere in here I meet up with Krispy and more hugs. I'm glad to see her, she tells us she's taping now. Yippee!! T