Star Power Added For Birthday Bash
Wow, the star power just keeps on growing for Willie Nelson's 70th birthday bash April 9 in New York.Guests include Eric
Clapton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Norah Jones and Sheryl Crow, Ray Charles, Kenny Chesney, Merle Haggard, The Who's Roger
Daltrey, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Toby Keith, Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett, Shelby Lynne, Ray Price, Leon
Russell, Shania Twain, ZZ Top and John Mellencamp, Billboard.com reports.Nelson turns 70 on April 30. Dubbed Willie
Nelson and Friends: Live and Kickin', the event at New York's Beacon Theater will be taped for an edited two-hour broadcast on
USA Network on May 26.
JEN AND ALLY GO 10 ROUNDS WITH JOSE
We really missed Nikki for this show. Since we made a last minute decision to go and couldn’t get in touch with Nikki, sheâ
€™s been so busy with school, we went as a duo. Yes, we have done that before, but it’s been a while. There was our first
trip together to Trenton, NJ, just about a year ago. Okay, so maybe there were two other people with us, but you would never
know they were there. Then there was the trip to Pennsylvania last June. Although we did meet up with a couple of friends at the
show, but then again we are always meeting up with someone at a show.
Why did we miss Nikki? Well, mostly because we just love her. Also because we had no one to cut us off. What am I thinking,
she would never cut us off. Well somebody should have. We couldn’t be trusted to do it ourselves.
We planned on taking the LONG ISLAND RAILROAD (LIRR) into New York City. It definitely beats driving there, and then
you don’t have to worry about driving in the city or finding a parking place. We definitely took advantage of the non-driving
aspect of our situation. Naturally, I made some shello jots for the trip, two boxes of Raspberry with Jose Cuervo. Since I didnâ
€™t think that would be enough for us, I also made two pitchers of my Strawberry Margaritas, which I poured inside a Hawaiin
Punch 2-litre bottle. For good measure, we also brought along a 6-pack of Heineken’s.
We got to the train station 45 minutes before our train was due to depart, so we drank some heiny’s while waiting. Once we
got on the train, no actually, after we passed through a few towns, we broke out the shello jots. We finished those before we
reached the East River, LIRR goes under the river to get to the Island of Manhattan. It was at this point that we decided to start
enjoying the Margaritas, and enjoy we did.
Once we got on the city streets, we went back to drinking the Heiny’s while we started our 40 block walk North towards the
Beacon Theatre. We had planned on stopping at the Times Square Brewery, which coincidentally, is right in Times Square, for
something to eat. Well, that’s where it was supposed to be, and I guess actually was until some time last year when it closed it
doors permanently. That really confused me since it was still on the New York City website restaurant guide section. Oh well, we
still needed a place to eat at. Jen had mentioned some place called Texas Texas, but that one I couldn’t find on the NYC
website. All that matters is that we found it while we were in Times Square. We got our seats and ordered drinks. I don’t
know why we ordered drinks, but I guess we were on a roll. I had a margarita and she had a blue hawaiin. They came in really cute
cowboy boot glasses. Jen and I used that time to make a few phone calls to some friends. Now, I don’t wear a watch, if I need
to know what time it is, I just look at my cell phone. Maybe if I did wear a watch, we might have noticed sooner that the show
was about to start in 25 minutes, and we were still 30 blocks away from the venue. We never ordered any food. Everytime the
waiter came over to take our order, we were both on the phone. Shoot, I don’t think I even looked at the menu.
So there we are, paying for our drinks and running out the door to flag down a taxi to get us to the Beacon Theatre. This is where
it gets to be lots of fun. I was thinking it shouldn’t take us too long to get there, about 10 minutes maybe. I was just enjoying
the ride and realizing that my head was starting to spin. Gee I wonder why? It was at this point that Jen notices that the cabbie is
taking us back downtown, towards where we came from, instead of uptown, to where we needed to be. We told him where we
were going and what street it was on before we got in the cab. The Beacon Theatre is on 74th street and Broadway. We got into
the cab at 42nd Street and Broadway. We were on 30 something street when Jen realized. Like I said my head was spinning, I
wasn’t noticing anything.
Eventually, we got headed in the right direction and things seemed like they were going to be okay. We were going to miss the
beginning of the show, something we’ve gotten used to. It would have really stunk if Kenny was the first performer, then it
would have been $100 for nothing (and that wasn’t an upgrade price either, that’s what they actually cost, the cheapest
seats anyway). Well, I didn’t just go to see Kenny, but I would have been very disappointed if I had missed him. It was just
then that we had to pull over to the side of the road. Luckily that didn’t take too long. Apparently, my head wasn’t the
only head spinning in this cab. When we got to the venue, it was well after 7:30, but the show had yet to start. Which meant
that we had time for a quick pitstop at the refreshment stand. Why we continued to torture ourselves, I have no idea, but it did
seem like the thing to do. When I had my pictures developed the day after the show, I found out that Jen and I had made a few
friends at that refreshment stand. I have the pictures to prove it, and we became such good friends with these strangers in New
York City, that I even gave my camera to someone to take a picture of me and jen.
We finally made it to our seats, which weren’t too bad. A few people had mentioned to me that there wasn’t a bad seat in
that Theatre, and they were correct. We had a good view of the stage, as small as it was from where we were, but we could see
everything. I did use my binoculars on occasion, the occasion where I wasn’t passed out that is. Shortly after we got to our
seats, we lost our refreshements. Our feet somehow got in the way.
Onto the performers. Now, naturally, I don’t remember everything. My nap sort of got in the way of remembering stuff.
Although I was somewhat coherent while napping, I do believe I got pictures of everyone that performed or emceed, with the
exception of two. Jen managed to get those two pictures before she took her nap. That’s right we paid $100 a ticket to take
naps. Of course they used the same band all night. I would think it was Willie’s band, but since I’ve never gone to one of
his concerts (I always seem to be at a Chesney concert instead), I have no clue what his band members look like. Each guest
appearing came out and sang a song with Willie. There were some guests that were just there to say a few words, they weren’t
singers.
Here is a list of performers, according to my pictures, Willie Nelson (naturally); Sheryl Crow, Shelby Lynne and Lyle Lovett all
performed together; John Mellencamp; Whoopi Goldberg (non-singer); Paul Simon (or some guy who looks an awful lot like him,
can’t wait for this thing to be on TV that’s they only way this will get straightened out in my head); Toby Keith; Wycleff
Jean; Shania Twain; Elvis Costello; ZZTOP; KENNY CHESNEY (my head had stopped spinning by this point and I was wide
awake, wish I could say the same for jen); Steven Tyler; Shelby Lynne, alone this time; Ray Price; Ali Mcgraw, non-singer; Sheryl
Crow, with just Willie this time; Kris Kristofferson, played his guitar and sang a song with Willie; Toby Keith, with some guy
Steve, didn’t catch his last name; Norah Jones; then some guy who played piano, no clue who he was; last was the whole
group, everyone who had already performed, came back out with a huge birthday cake in the shape of an acoustic guitar. They all
sang happy birthday, and Willie ate a piece of the cake.
That’s from just looking at the pictures I took. The two people I somewhat slept through were Ray Charles and former
president Bill Clinton. I did open my eyes for Ray Charles, but not for long. Yes Bill Clinton was there, and I couldn’t tell
you if he had his sax or not. All I heard was his name being announced and the crowd noise that was it.
Let’s get back to Jen. While I was trying to sleep, she kept talking to me and I would just hold up my hand and say just give
me a minute, and I’m sure she didn’t understand a word I said, she only understood my hand. My head was spinning so
bad, and I was quite close to being sick. The only thing that had me more worried about getting sick right there in my seat was
trying to walk somewhere at that moment. So, I stayed right there until I felt better. When I started to feel better, is when Jen
started to have a problem, again.
She was braver than I was. She got up out of her seat. She wanted to be somewhere a bit more private just in case she got sick.
Not too long after she was gone, I noticed Kenny walking on stage. So, being the good friend that I am, I call her cell phone. No
sooner do I press the send button, I hear ringing at my feet. I look down at the seat next to me and see her pocketbook there. Oh
well, so much for telling her that he’s on stage saying hello to everyone while getting ready to sing with Willie. I didn’t
think I could walk at that point. So, I just hoped that she got back soon. I didn’t want her to miss him. Without her there and
him on stage, I did the only thing I could. I took as many pictures of him as possible. Apparently, she heard him when he started
to sing. She came crawling back to her seat shortly after he started, but she still wasn’t feeling much better. It was at this point
that Jen decided to take her $100 nap. There’s a picture of her nap. I just haven’t decided if I should share it or not. She
does have the negative of that “shining� picture of me in Lovingston last September. I’m sure there are a few guys who
might have that vision stuck in their head (whether they want it to be there or not), but I can deal with them. I just don’t want
that negative to get into the wrong hands.
All in all, it was a good show. We did manage to enjoy ourselves. Apparently, we had a nice walk from Penn Station to Times
Square. Looking at the time on all the pictures we took, (somehow I took three rolls of pictures from the train until the show
started) we only spent 90 minutes walking 8 blocks. It should have only taken us about 15 minutes to walk 8 blocks. We were
very busy being sightseers. You will have to check out the pictures.