As Taylor Swift says "Welcome to New York it's been waiting for you" is exactly how I felt as I was flown to NYC for a job interview with a publication company in Brooklyn.
I was a computer consultant and I traveled to NYC from Portland, OR October 24 2001 which I believe was 33 days after 9/11. I had a bunch of frequent flyer miles so I upgraded to first class. To my suprise there were 7 people on the entire flight and the flight attendant was very nice I asked how many people were on the plane and when she said 7 including me I said why aren't they all in first class and she said that it was up to me. So I said wouldn't it be easier if everyone was in a close proximity on the plane and she agreed before long I had 6 traveling companion of which I didn't know anyone. I soon did as the flight turned into a first class party and this was back in the day of good food and drink. We had a party on the plane! I seriously was buzzed when I got off the plane at JFK where while leaving a man asked if I wanted a cab to which I said yes.
He proceeded to grab my bag and said come on. Well if you have never been to NYC coming from JFK to midtown it is pretty dark on the east side of the east river and I just happened to notice there was no fare calculator in the cab. Yep I was now buzzed all alone for the first time in NYC and I am in a gypsy cab. I had no idea where we were and if he was really taking me to my hotel. I was worried, to say the least and as my anxiety was peaking the lights of the city came into view and I felt a bit safer. All that fear for nothing I got out and gave the man $40.00 and said thank you!
I had a prior job wher I moved a company from Cranbury, NJ to Los Angeles, CA a few years earlier which brought along a soon to be friend from a town in New Jersey. It was 3 years later that I came to NYC. I called him around 11pm and he was at The Milford Plaza hotel (now The Row) within 20 minutes and proceeded to drive me all over NYC until about 4am. It was very cool that city definitely does not sleep and I got a native view of everything anyone would want to see.
I woke up at 10 am and proceeded to wake my friend up he said U2 was playing at Madison Square Garden and I should go hang out and see if they were going to release any tickets for the Elevation tour U2's last night of 3 at MSG. He had already told me he had tickets for the Continental Center on Sunday. Which was really cool and yes they released tickets. So I called my friend and he was there with in a half hour I would not have known which tickets to pick. He picked great seats. So I got to see U2 both Saturday and Sunday.
The funny thing is if you have never been to NYC on Sunday there is like a farmers market or something all up and down broadway you would never guess who I saw. Yep, Bono and his wife were walking around. I am not a fan boy so I just though that was pretty cool. Later that evening I was watching them again in New Jeresey! Mind you I did not expect any of this but my whole life I have liked arena's the Boston Garden I always wanted to see also because at the time I was a huge Celtic fan but MSG I had listened to Ali fights on a portable radio as a kid and all of a sudden I was in MSG for a great show!
I was so lucky to have had the experience and I have always wanted to go back but my friend has since passed and I don't think I could ever have an experience like I had with him, so I have not been back. Lately I have felt the call of the big apple but I don't think I will ever make it back.
That is a band I forgot to mention in my last music post I saw them back to back and again with my wife when they came to Portland, OR.
It was such a beautiful and tragic trip all at the same time as I saw the towers all bent over the streets, I saw central park at 3 in the morning I was scared stiff having never been to NYC before but we were at a place I remember being called strawberry fields (I believe) because it was very close to where John Lennon was killed.
Anyway it was a time I will never forget and it was all by a chance meeting of a person from New Jersey I worked with in Los Angeles with for 5 months in 1998 now that I think of it, it had to be close to 3 years to the day because the time we spent in LA ended in October of 1998.
R.I.P. Rich and thank you for the memories!