I'm still digesting yesterday's events. I tried to post this last night after I got home but, as usual, I conked out on the couch in front of my laptop before writing down anything. Processing the pictures took awhile, and it was after midnight when I arrived to my humble abode in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Some of you may have seen the pics I tweeted from Joe's Pub last night, including Vincent's arrival and Sam's set list. Well, there's more.
I'd been looking forward for months to seeing Sam perform at Joe's Pub for the first time since last July, and I was so excited when yesterday finally arrived. My friend, co-worker and fellow teammate on Alberto Acevedo's team for the 3K Walk, Lucy and I headed to the East Village just after 5 PM via the No. 5 train from City Hall. Lucy had never heard of Sam Bisbee before I invited her to the concert, but she was up for a new musical experience. This would also be her first visit to Joe's Pub, and my third. After leaving the Astor Place subway station just two blocks from Joe's Pub, Lucy and I strolled down St. Mark's Place and ate dinner at St. Marks Burgers near 1st Avenue. (Note, exteriors for the ransom drop scene in LO:CI Season 8 episode "Folie a Deux" were filmed outside the Astor Place subway station in 2009.) The bacon sliders and fries were yummy and greasy. The restaurant also has a special adornment on the roof of the outdoor inclosure at the entrance-a cow. Actually, it's a statue from the Cow Parade art exhibit that was displayed throughout New York City back in 2000. I noticed that the statue had people's faces painted all over it, and a painting of a boy wearing a Puerto Rican flag shirt on one leg. The sign underneath the cow says "We Grind Our Own Beef. " Well there you go!
After dinner we walked over to Avenue A and Tompkins Square Park, bustling with activity on a warm spring evening and still awash in lovely blooms. I pointed out my old elementary school, St. Brigid's, on Avenue B and East 7th Street just across from the park and two blocks down from Christodora House on East 9th Street, where Vincent once lived. It's so cool that he was back in the 'hood just two weeks ago filming the sixth episode of LO:CI "The Last Street in Manhattan" which will air on May 22. Unfortunately, St. Brigid's Church is nowhere near the end of the extensive renovations begun years ago and is still boarded up. Sort of reminds me of the WTC site, in a way, since the church was boarded up before 9/11 and nearly demolished before an anonymous donor financed the repairs desperately needed to shore up the foundation. Don't know when I'll be able to attend Mass here again. Wonder if Vincent ever did. Exteriors for several scenes in LO:CI Season 1 episode "The Faithful" were filmed here in 2001.
After walking around the park, we headed to East 8th Street and walked over to Lafayette Street, stopping for tea on the way. Just after 8PM, Lucy and I hung out near the entrance to Joe's Pub and whiled away the time in idle chatter, since we were quite early for Sam's 9:30 PM show. Guess who rolled up just before 8:30 PM on foot, no bodyguard, no entourage and with his own lovely wife? Vincent always manages to take me by surprise just by showing up and acting like a regular guy, not a movie star. He was dressed in black, as usual, and looking great and much slimmer than when I first met him at the meet and greet last summer at Joe's Pub. What a difference nearly a year makes, eh? He and Carin walked up the steps to the entrance and went inside for several minutes before coming back outside with Sam, and they hung out on the sidewalk for several minutes having a smoke before going back inside again. I wanted to go over and say hi to both Vincent and Sam, but I didn't want to fangirl Vincent in front of his wife, so Lucy and I kept a respectful distance for the time being. While talking to Sam, Vincent leaned back against a bicycle tethered to a lamp pole outside. However, the bike moved and he nearly lost his balance for a moment before regaining his footing. Oopsie! Not used to seeing a clumsy Vincent D'Onofrio. He really needs to stop smoking! LOLThen he could have secured the bike with both hands, instead of single handedly. Just saying.
Earlier in the day, I had exchanged tweets with Liz aka Gorenrocks and we agreed to meet up at the concert. However, it was getting close to 9 PM and she was nowhere in sight, which worried me. It turns out that she had forgotten to bring her concert tickets with her when she arrived in the East Village earlier in the evening and had to go back to her hotel to retrieve them, then return to Joe's Pub. Oh well, at least Liz kept her sense of humor about it when we did finally meet at 9 PM, telling me that she's glad she didn't leave the tickets in New Jersey, where she lives. While waiting for the doors to open for the 9:30 PM show, Lucy and I also met two more VDO fans on the line, Ellen and Carol, who recognized me from this blog. Cool!
Once inside the club, Lucy and I got a great table right in front of the stage, and we settled right in. Liz and her friend Kim sat directly behind us and pointed towards the bar in the rear, where Vincent was holding court. It was too dark inside and Vincent was too far away for me to get a decent photo, but I decided to catch him later after the show. I was hoping to see George Geronimo Gerkie make a special appearance during Sam's show, and we had an awesome view from our table. I also had two cameras ready, including my HP mini-camcorder with a brand new 16 GB SD memory card and my HTC Inspire smartphone camera. I propped my mini-cam in front of the glass candle holder on our table to film the show so I wouldn't have to hold it, and I wanted my hands free to snap pictures with my phone camera. As a matter of fact, I snapped a photo of the set list on the stage right in front of me and tweeted it on the spot.
At 9:35, Sam's son appeared onstage to introduce him, saying "Ladies and gentlemen, Sam Bisbee." Aww. Sam performed all twelve songs from his new album "You + Me = Us" plus a couple more in a nearly 90 minute set. He started the show with a rocking rendition of the New Order '80's classic "Age of Consent?" to the sold-out crowd. He and his band included a string section, bass, drums, and keyboards, plus Sam on acoustic and electric guitars. He dedicated "Beautful Thing" to his wife, a lovely gesture. Sam also introduced the song "Break My Fall" from the soundtrack of the film "Don't Go In The Woods" "directed by Vincent D'Onofrio." Yay! I thought Vincent might appear onstage at this point, but that didn't happen. No sighting of GGG, either. Maybe he forgot to show up this time. LOL A special guest vocalist, Wanting Qu, joined Sam onstage for one song and she sounded lovely, althought I found it strange that she was holding a smartphone during her performance. Was she filming herself onstage?
Sam ended the show with an encore, "You Got Soul" which he dedicated to his 11 year-old daughter, Aww again. What a family man he is! We met Sam outside after the show and he was very affable and graciously signed both our Cd's and posed for a photo with us while Vincent had another smoke nearby and chatted with various people. Liz left after getting her photo taken with Vincent and I had planned to get a picture with Vincent and Sam together, but we had a mishap with my phone camera, since the battery was nearly dead by this time and the flash no longer worked. The same problem with the mini-cam, and I couldn't recharge either until I got home. Lucy did not have her own camera, to my dismay. Our pic with Sam came out very dark, though I tried to enhance it. While we were fussing with the cameras, I turned to look for Vincent and he had vanished! Just like the magician he was back in the day in Miami. Sneaky! Oh well, I did snap a few of him earlier outside and Vincent can be seen in the background of a pic I took of Lucy, Kim and Liz after the show. Although I didn't get another pic with Vincent this time, I'm glad Liz got her pic taken before her trip back to Jersey. I hope to see Vincent again on set this month when he and Kate film the eighth and last episode for Season 10 of LOCI. Just waiting to find out when and where they will be on location in NYC so I can arrange to visit the set one more time before wrapping up my blog posts on Season 10. I have lots of material I have yet to post here, so I better get cracking! Good night all.
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