NYC February 2004 Fanmeet
"Rewired," Astor Place Theatre, 02/21/04
PAGE 1: DRUM CIRCLE, ETC.
(click here for PAGE 2: ASTOR PLACE THEATRE, ETC.)
and we start the lovely day...
Matt stops by to say hello
Mere (bluechick) and I came into Penn station and headed to the Krispy Kreme, where we were going to meet Lal... We grabbed some food (I think I may have set
some kind of record for super-fast donut eating--man, I inhaled that thing), and before long Lal came running up and gave us huge hugs. =D After some phone tag, we met
up with Jay (gentner8) and Amy (ladybluebird), and then Molly (BEBS) and her dad. We decided the first order of business was to get Jay and Amy to their hotel, so they
could drop off their luggage... Having never really been to NYC before, I was clueless and quickly set into a follower role... but yikes, Lal and Mere were CRAZY together, all
running around and such and being loons. Hahahahah, anywho... We took the Path train to the Millennium hotel, after some slight confusion here and there, and all crashed
up in Jay and Amy's room for a while. This gave me a chance to construct the thank you card for Chris, Matt, Phil, et al (I'd done the art, and Lal supplied the actual card to
put that on), and pass it around to be signed. Mere settled in and practiced her drumming skills, and we all got organized for the day.
In due time, we headed over to the Astor area, and went out for lunch at the Time Cafe... We didn't have a cactus on our table like most of the other tables did, so
Molly's dad decided to bug the waitress about it, haha... He was a funny guy. Lal got orange juice, because she's an orange juice addict. And proud of it, too. After lunch,
we walked over to the Astor Place to meet up with the other fans.
It wasn't long before we found Joe (bluejoe), Andy (andyanks), and Jason (Riddler)... We were all standing around and talking when I was solidly bumped into. Figuring
I was sticking out into the sidewalk, I just glanced to see what the deal was, and it was GEE (bluemangee)!! I totally flipped and did a double-take; I was so excited to see
him. LOL. Yaaaaay being a dork is FUN. Once I'd collected myself I gave him a big hug and talked my face off at him, hehe. Gee rules! Royal (RoyalBlue), his wife, and
daughter Sharyn also showed up...
It was only moments after Mere said something like "I'm just waiting for Chris, Matt, or Phil to show up and be like, 'hey guys!'" when a car pulled up and out came
Matt Goldman. He waved at us, said hello and approached the group on the sidewalk. A few people went up and shook his hand, and then he just ended up talking to the
group as a whole. One of the first things he said was that his wife was 8 months pregnant, and that the huge delivery of flowers we'd seen a minute or two before was for
her. That news was greeted with a chorus of "Awwww"s and congrats, and he seemed to be pretty proud. =)
Encouraged by Royal, Sharyn presented Matt with her "Blue Men on Horses" drawing (which Royal had posted on the board a few days before), and she explained
that Matt "might have seen it on the internet." He absolutely loved it, and proceeded to say, "you know, I think you might be able to see the future!" He said that it has
something to do with the Berlin show, and launched into an explanation (all while holding the picture up as if to demonstrate). He went on for a while about some statue that
was stolen and brought to the Louvre and then returned to Berlin or something... he completely lost me, LOL. A couple times during his story he interrupted himself and
said "now I really do have a point" or "when I get to the end, it will be worth it," hahahah. I remember just standing there listening to him talk, not really comprehending
much of it (I'm no history buff), and thinking "DAMN he knows a lot..." Geez, and I thought Chris's head was the one exploding with information--no, it's Matt. lol. Anyways,
he finally got around to the part I could understand (haha) and told us that there is a big arch at the Berlin show, which has horses on it... and during the show, they will turn
and gallop off (a livewire effect)... Long story short, Sharyn was apparently "clairvoyant" with that drawing. Hehe. Matt made sure to get Sharyn's autograph on her artwork
("it's not signed?" *gasp*), and I snagged a picture of the scene... I wanted to make sure to get at least one picture of or with Matt--yay for memories! =)
No worries though, for next it was picture time! Matt was great about posing for pictures with all of us together, saying little catch phrases like "everyone smile! come
on, pictures! let's take pictures!" ...then he insisted on him taking a picture of all of us, hehe. He was so friendly! I think Sharyn got the star treatment from him, though,
hehe. It was really cute to watch her talk with him. After pictures, he had to get going... but before he left, he gave us the street number for the 3rd street studio we were to
be at for 4:30, and directions on how to walk there. While he was explaining, Lal looked at me and said "pay attention, because I'm not!" LOL... too late Lal, too late.
PHOTO FROM JAY (GENTNER8). From left to right: Gee, Jason, Joe, Jay, Andy, Mere, Matt Goldman, Royal, Lal, me, Molly... and Sharyn in front.
After some slight confusion, we made it to 3rd street in good enough time. We reached the right number, and man, you would never know there was the studio of a major performance group there--absolutely nothing that made it suspicious, not even a bit of blue paint, haha. Soon Sonia (soniablue) arrived with Gina (ginapier) and Abe (americonium), armed with drum circle "materials" and nametags for everyone. I handed around the card to anyone who hadn't signed it earlier, and held it ready to present to whomever we'd be seeing. Before giving it away though, Lal and I made sure to get a couple pictures of it:
We all followed Chris into the studio... Phil Stanton was standing just inside the doorway, greeting each person individually as we came in. I shook his hand and gave a happy "Hey, Phil!" and he smiled and returned the "hey!" (we'd met this past summer on the Complex Tour). Hehe... "Yo wassup man? Good to see you again! You rule! hahahahah." OK, so I didn't really say that (it's just what I thought). Anywho. As we walked into a long lounge/kitchen area, Chris immediately started handing out cups for tea. As he handed a cup to Sonia, he remarked with a slight smirk, "I didn't bring the dogulums" (one of whom had barked at Sonia in the past). We all gathered in the room while some tried to work the tea/hot water machines... It wasn't long before Mere called out, "Hey Chris! It's not working!" to which Chris didn't miss a beat in saying, "oh, it's childproof."
When we were all settled into the room, Chris announced that there was a "video presentation" for us. He explained that he had the "I Feel Love" music video in hand, and we would be the first fans to see it. Oh yay! He popped it in and we all watched with rapt attention. The setting was a diner, with Annette as the waitress and the Blue Men (CMP) as her favored "regulars." She set drinks in front of them, and Lal was happy to see orange juice! LOL. The Blue Men basically made a mess of the diner and had some sort of strange party... but the best part was the end, where the three Blue Men were doing clean up in the morning. Chris's blue man was in an apron, wiping down the counter, and slurping the remnants of a shake... that image just killed me. It was really strange to watch the video with Chris-in-blue, when Chris-in-person was standing right there watching with us... it was some kind of paradox or something, haha. At one point in the video, the jellyfish from "White Rabbit" on the Complex Tour showed up, and Chris remarked "we put that in for luxor" (who made a huge deal about "White Rabbit" not being on the tour DVD, haha). He was all about teasing us, one by one, lol. Sweet. After the video was over, Chris took it out and told us he was giving it to us to share with the other fans and such, but that we'd have to "nominate one of [our] own" to take it, because he didn't want to get involved with that. We all looked at each other, as if to say "don't look at ME!" but Jay eventually stepped up and took it.
Someone pointed out that Phil and Joe were twins, because they had the same sort of green Adidas jacket thing on... heheh. And just to be a big dork, sometime later I complimented Phil on his red pants. ...Why? I don't know. Sometimes when I try to make conversation, I just suck. lol.
Ooooh sound room
Next, Chris led us into the sound room... He said that it was the same room in which the cover for Audio was shot, even though the soundboard was different.
I gazed around at all the buttons, little switches, and complicated-looking electronics, stunned to even be there... Stepping into that studio was like stepping into some
secret hidden world of where Blue Man is created and maintained... There weren't even any windows so the outside world was completely obliterated. Talk about a surreal
feeling. As Chris talked some more about the sound room, I was just soaking it all in, trying to believe that I was actually there. When he was done talking, he paused for a
moment, and then looked at me (I was standing up-frontish, so was only a few feet away from him). With a sort of knowing look, he said, "you're eternallyblue, aren't you?"
and when I said yes, he commented somewhat deliberately, "it's good to meet you." I don't even know what I said in reply. I might have said something like "it's good to
meet you too," but it's more probable that I was just like, "yeah...*dazed* ....." I've never met Chris before, so that was a little eerie... but very cool! =)
Somewhere in here, Mere introduced herself (as both bluechick and Meredith), and Chris shook his head and said "ohhh no, I don't do real names." LOL. So as I
have thought before, I will forever be "EB" in Chris's eyes. Haha.
can we play with your stuff?
Ahh and the fun begins. Er, continues. We all walked into the area with all the instruments and random-as-hell gadgets everywhere--the same place where we've
seen interviews and features done... Drums covering the walls, a PVC instrument set in the middle of the room, different classic Blue Man things like a Cimbalom and a
Tubulum... and that little hand cymbal ("the sound... is not good"). I just walked around and looked at things, while other people started testing out the different instruments
(once granted permission, of course). Chris and Phil also OK'ed our taking pictures, and seemed really laid back about it all. They trusted us not to mess anything up, I
guess, heheh. Still feeling disoriented, I looked around (stepping gingerly), and said to Phil, "I'm afraid to touch anything because I'll break something!" and he laughed and
assured me, "no, no, go ahead, you won't break anything!" They couldn't have been more generous about letting us play around in their studio. I was still pretty cautious,
and only ended up hitting the tubulum a few times with Amy. But I'm no drummer, and didn't want to clog the airways with my percussive garbage, lol. Instead, I tried to
snag a picture of Chris (I had to get a picture of Chris!)... He moved though... I expected it to be blurry, but when I checked on my digital camera, I was thoroughly freaked
out:
So then, for a while, I just kinda wandered around and took a few pictures... not really expecting to get a shot of everything, just things I thought looked especially neat (like Chris Wink, hahahhah, I had to say it). The piano smasher didn't have all its strings, though... too bad, it was probably the only instrument in there I could actually play. That is, if its strings weren't all tuned to the same note, which they probably were. OK, anyways, here are a bunch of random pictures from around the studio:
--At one point, Gee and I were standing with Phil, and I asked him (Phil) about any plans for a third CD... I figured that he wouldn't know at this point, but I was curious if they were going to go in more of a lyrical direction, or something more like Audio. He said that he had the feeling they would be going back to something more instrumental, which I hope ends up being the case, hehe. But at the same time, it definitely sounds like they haven't thought much past Berlin, yet.
--Later, I found myself right next to Chris, who seemed to be idle at the moment, and I still was holding onto the thank you card... so I took a step up to him and said "I guess this is as good a time as any... this is for you guys," to which he took a look at it and thanked me. He opened it up and started to match names with faces, as in "who's bluemangee?" (Gee: "over here!" *raises hand*)...
--Mere had put her tea down on the floor so her hands would be free to try out the PVC, and Lal accidentally kicked it over--it spilled into a big puddle halfway under the PVC stand. She pretty much gasped, saying "oh my god!," poor thing. When Chris started to walk over, she said, "oh my god, I'm sooooo sorry!! I'm sorry!" and Chris, seeing the spill, gave a slight smirk and scolded, "excuse me, uhhh... We like to keep things clean in here..." Of course, we all laughed at that--Blue Man? Clean? huh? (As there's paint all over the walls and floor and little random gadgets lying everywhere). But after making the joke, he reassured Lal that it really was OK. It was way too funny though, hahahah. "Excuse me, uhhh..."
--Chris did us the honor of playing snippets of some BMG songs like the "Opening Mandelbrot," "Above," "Time to Start," and "House" on the Cimbalom and PVC... Mere was attempting to play "House" (and doing pretty well), when Chris offered to teach her. First, he asked around for Sonia, to make sure she would hear, and proceeded to play the first verse or so of it. *drool* Man, I miss House already--it is such a cool song. It was such a neat thing to hear Chris play some of the parts, though. It had the same Blue Man feel (even out of context/costume), and it sounded just like on the CD (or live on tour), especially in the case of the Cimbalom... Too spiffy.
--On the same idea, Chris taught Mere to play "Time to Start" on the PVC, which she caught on to right away. At that point, both Chris and Phil were watching her, and it was such a neat moment--she was rocking out and a couple Blue Man founders were watching, looking pretty impressed, hehe. Sometime earlier, when Mere expressed how nervous she was to play in front of Chris and Phil, Phil told us (Mere, Gee, and I, I think) how he's not really a drummer (a musician, but not a drummer), so he just works really hard on the songs that he has to play. His (and Chris's) comments on Mere's talent/ability totally made her day. Week. Year? hehe.
--Looking around, I noticed a big toy sphere--one of those that is made of little plastic pieces and expands and contracts? I asked Phil what the heck that was for, and he explained that they were experimented using it for a special effect (by getting it to open and close quickly), but it didn't work out. (Chris was asked this same question later, and gave a similar answer). Also, there was a blue man dummy hanging up high... When asked about it, Chris said, "that's one of the Blue Men who talked during a show" (I think that's what he said), hehe... oddly, it looked kinda like Chris... creepy. Oh and by the way, his name is Hector.
--Sometime later, Phil was showing us the Klein canvasses they'd made for the Berlin show, only these were "failed attempts." He started holding them up so we could look and take pictures... And then he got all silly and wrapped one around him like a cape, modeling it for us. Phil is so much fun, lol... He posed for pictures, and then called over to Chris, "how do I look?" and posed some more. What a goof, I love it.
--I caught Chris unoccupied again, and I decided that I had to hug him. I would forever regret it if I didn't. So, I sidled up and said something typically me like, "OK, this is really dorky, but, can I give you a hug?" He smiled and opened his arms to comply, saying, "ohhh yeah, you are the one that likes to hug." hahah... yes, I am the hugmeister. Later, I practically hopped in front of Phil: "Hi Phil!... can I give you a hug?" and he was like, "awww OK" and leaned over for a half hug while I told him that "I hugged Chris, so I HAD to hug you." LOL... I am such a dork. After I hugged Phil I nearly slipped into "ohmygodyouguyssoruleandiloveyouallandyouhavenoideahowawesomebluemanistomeandohmygod!" mode, but I think I controlled myself.
--When I spotted Chris and Phil standing together, I asked for a picture with both of them, which came out really nicely. The only thing about it, is that I look at it and think, "um, did I photoshop myself in there, or what?" It's like I took out Matt and put in ME. hahahah.
Finally, we all got undistracted enough to let Sonia and Mere organize the drum circle... The first run-through started out only OK, as most of us were pretty shy about getting into it. But it gradually improved and we got into a kind of groove-thing. Gee and I were instrument-less at first, but Chris handed us a couple shakers... Gee is the funniest shaker-player ever. He's like, *shakeshakeshake...shake!shake!shakeshakeshake* ..."that fits, right?" heheh, at one point he and I got into a sort of pattern, which was fun. However, I am incapable of playing a purely rhythm instrument without getting a dorky look on my face. D'oh. Anywho... The second run started with Mere playing some crazy Latin beat on the cowbell that most of us couldn't follow (who needs downbeats?)... The third run was where things came together, though... Chris and Royal busted it out on sonia's drums, providing a solid base, while Sonia had switched to a wooden flute... By this time, I had given up on trying to be a percussionist, and instead danced around with Lal. I'm still pretty boggled that I was dancing like a fool in the Blue Man studio with two of the founders there, lol. Can we say DORK?
Anywho, a couple pictures from the drum circle:
From left to right: Mere, Sonia, Royal's wife, Jason, Gina, Joe, and Abe.
I don't remember most of what was said here, because it was just like sitting around and talking with friends... Not really about anything in particular, but just being together and having a good time. But I do remember Mere making the comment (about football), "without the band, it's just a game," to which Phil (and most others too) laughed, and Chris asked "and with the band, it's a..." Mere smirked and said, "It's a show," and Chris grinned and nodded ("ahhhh. a SHOW")... This exchange set Phil into a brief tangent about playing with a band in Effingham. A few seconds after he finished, Chris waited through a few moments of silence before piping in with (something like) "now does F-ingham stand for something else?" LOL... he's such a wise-guy. He's completely straight-faced and mellow, and then he just randomly says these hilarious comments, haha... I also noticed that he talks the same way that he does in his interviews--he'll kind of trail off multiple times when he's talking, but every time pick it back up and continue... I don't know how to really explain it, but both he and Phil were just like they have been in several interviews... So being there, I felt like I was in the middle of another interview I was watching on video... it was so strange. Again, disorientation set in as I wondered the hell I was. haha.
Finally it was time to get going... I ended up hanging with Phil and a few others by the door, as the rest of the fans got organized and ready to go. While we were waiting, Phil tried to get Mere to play the nearby drumset, but her nerves wouldn't let her, hehe. I took a picture of him with Gee, and then watched the line-up of people all follow suit. Chuckling at the slight scramble, I jokingly said, "everyone get pictures with the celebrity!" (because CMP carry themselves as anything but), and Phil laughed, saying "yeah, right!" Those guys are so down-to-earth, that when you're with them, it's unreal to think of their actual "status"... which is hard to grasp, but lovely at the same time. Anywho, after people had gotten pictures and we were all waiting to head out, I noticed a small bookworm-like toy sitting on one of the equipment stands. I poked it, making it wobble, and asked Phil what it was (lol, "hey Phil, what is this random toy? I'm sure you know!" hahahah duh Jen), and he had no clue... he said that there is a lot of that kind of stuff hanging around the studio. But the funny part was that when he finally headed out of the studio, he poked it (the way I had done) curiously when he walked by, hehe... Phil is silly.
On the way out, Chris pointed to a wooden bench that had a couple broken metal straps attached to it, along with a pair of black pants... He explained that they used it for an advertisement (for Berlin, I think), where the Blue Men are sitting down, and they get up in turn... And when the third Blue Man got up, the bench came with him. "It broke on the last take..." haha.
Slowly (and sadly--damn, that was so much fun being there!) the group left the studio... Chris, this time, stood by the door as we exited, and I gave him another hug on my way by, which he returned warmly. We all ended up hanging outside for a few minutes, where Chris showed Phil the thank you card. They both looked around at the inside of it, and then Chris (seeing Mere's signature) asked "so what is 'w00t'? Like, is that something you actually say? or..." I think I said something like "it's mostly an online thing, but you can say it in person if you're a big dork!" (hahahahh whyyyy do I do that). Phil commented, "It took me the longest time to figure out LOL..." hahahah. Then I pointed out the back of the card... which said "shakababble inc. (aka lal and jen)" and had a little drawing of a crab. Showing true dork form, I explained that we had a dork group, and that Lal was shaka and I was babble... and Mere chimed in and ID'ed herself as spazflail. I don't think you can get much dorkier that proudly stating that you are a dork, so much that you co-founded a Dork Group. The following picture was taken inside the studio, but seeing as it is 3/5th's of the Dork Group (minus Cyn and one other honorary member), it fits here:
PHOTO FROM JAY (GENTNER8).
click here for PAGE 2: ASTOR PLACE THEATRE, ETC.