We arrived in NYC at approximately 6:45 A.M. We quickly used the facilities at the Grand Central Station and we were up and running. Our first stop was to meet our friend, let’s call him “Mr. J.” We turn the corner and arrive at our first celebrity meeting place and we meet “Mr. J.” who arrived on an earlier train.
There were probably 5 other people standing around doing the same thing we were. The first celebrity we spotted was Emeril Lagasse. We all called his name, but he smiled but did not come over to us. The second celebrity we spotted was Jane Seymour. She had many things in her hand and pointed her finger at us and said she would sign when she came out. The third celebrity was Diane Lane, and though every one called out to her she walked by as if she didn’t even hear us.
So, we waited and a little later Emeril came out, smiled and walked by, Diane Lane came out, and ignored us. Jane Seymour came out and she was very nice to sign autographs for everyone as she promised. I got a photo with her, but when Brian asked to get one as well she said, “I already got you.”???
Before we left George Stephanopoulous, anchor and political correspondent walked out to his car. We got his autograph on his book and were able to get photos with him.
So, we walked to location number two. This is where Bruce Willis was supposed to come out., we heard he came out after we left and did not sign. Michael Imperioli was suppose to be there but he pre-taped. The new Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, was there, but we weren’t sure who she was and did not see her come out anyway. Morgan Freeman was in a car and sped past us.
So far we were batting almost zero, so we walked to our third location, hoping to get something good. We waited for a while, when two cars drove by us: a limo and a SUV. We suppose they were Liza Minelli and Jennifer Garner. My boyfriend Brian said he thought he saw Jennifer Garner’s smiling face in one of the cars behind the dark tinted windows.
Luckily, though, there were still three host’s in the building. Joy Beyhar came out. Brian had her book in hand when her car passed. Joy said, “I’ll sign for the guy with the book.” She was very pleasant! To our surprise Barbara Walters came by and rolled her window down for us. She signed for everyone and took a photo with Brian and “Mr. J“. Then Whoopi Goldberg passed by. This is the third time we met her. She is extremely nice and down to earth! She signed and Brian and I got photos with her.
By the time we were done with all this it was around 12:45 and the three of us, Brian , “Mr. J.“ and I were scheduled to be audience members at a show. We were suppose to be there at 1:30. We did not realized how far the show was, unfortunately. We started walked but realized that we would have to take a cab and split the cost. The traffic was pretty bad and it took awhile to get there. We made the deadline by 3 minutes. However, the women in front of us got cut off from going in and then we did too. They gave us a letter that we would have first priority next time we scheduled a day to come to the show. We were pretty upset by this, but were hoping something good would happen soon to make the day better.
It was on to the fourth location. We waited, we saw an SUV pull up. Out popped a very tall man with a long ponytail. He looked like a wrestler, but he was country star Trace Adkins! This was a very easy going meeting. His assistant stood back while the three of us got autographs and took photos with Trace.
A nice guy on a bicycle, informed us that the second star on the show today would be coming out of the building on a certain side and pointed out the car. He gave us a great tip! So we figured we would have time to go to location number five. When we arrived a few people were waiting. Within 15 minutes out walks Tony Blair, Ex-Prime Minster of England. Everything gets crazy. People pushing, shoving arms outstretched trying to get an autograph, while the secret service is trying to keep everyone in line. We tried to get an autograph, but it seemed impossible. So, Brian had an idea. He asked Tony if he could take a photo with me. Tony Blair smiled and said he would. He finally made his way over to me and I got the photo! I think I was only one of two people who got a photo with him! Our friend Mr. J. got an autograph.
Then we ran back to location four. We waited by the car patiently and before we knew it, Tom Selleck was leaving the building. He autographed one thing each for us and we all got photos.
By this time we started to feel much better about our day! Earlier in the day we passed a music venue on the way to one of the other locations. It said on the poster that there was a big concert that night with multiple famous musicians.
So, for the six and final location we decided to hang there. We managed to locate the stage door thanks to a tip. By then we were pretty tired. This was too big to pass up. The first person we saw come out of the door to smoke a cigarette was Steven Adler of “Guns and Roses.” , and of the reality TV show, “Celebrity Rehab.” He really made our whole day. The three of us were waiting there with one other person when Steven came out smiling and he was very friendly. We got autographs and photos, and he stood around for 10 minutes and talked to all of us. He was hugging everyone as well and even kissed me on the cheek in one of the photos. One of the nicest meetings with a rock star that we had in a while!
My boyfriend Brian asked “Mr. J” about the comedian Jackie Mason because he lived in the area. As he was talking about him, all of a sudden Jackie Mason came walking toward us with a woman. He was on his way to dinner at a local restaurant, but he was nice enough to stop for us and take photos. When he walked away Brian and “Mr. J.” remembered that Jackie was in the movie, “The Jerk.” which Brian just happened to have on him. So, when Jackie came back from his dinner., we asked him to sign the movie which he happily did for us as he cracked some jokes in his famous Jackie Mason voice. He was a riot!
The next musician that came out of the music venue was DMC, from Run DMC. He was a very friendly guy who signed autographs and posed for cool photos with us.
Next up was Henry Rollins from the Rollins Band and Black Flag. He was a man of few words. He was kind of serious, but nice enough to take photos with us.
The grand finale of the evening was a musician we saw in concert before. We tried to meet him then but we were unsuccessful. When Ace Frehely of Kiss left the building, all of a sudden there were fans everywhere pushing and shoving and it was madness! Luckily, “Mr. J.” and I were able to get one autograph. Brian and I barely were able to get our photos with him. In Brian’s photo people were shoving Kiss albums over his head!!
So in conclusion that was our NYC trip October 5, 2010. It started out as a bad day that turned into a very successful one! We missed a few, but met 12 people in all. We got a bunch of autographs and 22 photos.
We departed on the train around 11:40 p.m. after more than 16 hours of meeting celebrities and we were pretty tired, but satisfied. By the time we got home and got ready for bed it was close to 2:30 A.M. We were up for almost 24 hours. This was a typical NYC trip for us. It was very memorable!!
