The “Gettin’ It Out Of Our System” Reloaded Tour 2009 – Day Two (and one-half) – New York City!!

Our first-ever trip to New York City got off to a pretty good start yesterday, once we made it through the laborious process that is getting in to see the Late Night With David Letterman show. Even having pre-arranged tickets before leaving Calgary, you can’t start to breathe easy until you’ve got actual tickets in your hot little hands. Seeing as how I will be writing an official column about that process, I can’t say much about it right now. Let’s just say, it would be easier to get elected Excelsior Of Pago Pago, which is something I have checked out online recently.

What I can say is that we were present for history being made, with guest Paul McCartney appearing on the show for the first time in his career. If you watched the show last night, he elaborated to Dave on why.

Hey, wait – I’m getting ahead of myself! Before the show, we stopped in at Hello Deli, owned by Letterman recurring character Rupert Jee. His business was the trivia question I answered correctly, to get our tickets. It just felt proper to reward him by taking up space in his deli, to split a roast beef sandwich. I even kept his hand-scribbled note, indicating we ordered the “Brian” sandwich (although he should maybe have been a prescribing physician – it looks more he wrote “Pmai”).

After lunch, we’ll skip ahead again, to where we finally got the tickets in our hands, and were waiting to get into the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Just above us, on top of the Late Night marquee, Sir Paul was doing a sound check for a mini-concert he was doing as part of the show. “Get Back” – Holy “Let It Be”, Batman!!! Shiver me timbers…

Among our wanderings between getting the tickets, and getting in line, we wandered towards Radio City Music Hall, and ran smack-dab into Regis Philbin, crossing the street towards us, although it is unclear whether or not he even knew we were there. I think when he told me “no pictures please”, he had noticed us.

In the theatre, we ended up in the second row, off to the side. We were about 5’ from announcer Alan Kalter – 20’ from the man himself whilst sitting at his desk, with Sir Paul. We had a clear view of The CBS Orchestra, and hammy cohort Paul Shaffer. The whole thing just made your head swim. Even more surreal when action star Bruce Willis strolled out to do the Top Ten list. Fine sense of humour, Mr.Willis. He also turned up for the concert afterwards.

Oh yeah, the concert – McCartney did a half dozen songs, even though only two were broadcast as part of the show. Great blend of Wings, solo and Beatles stuff – just got our appetities whetted for the full concert next week.

But, I ramble – and we’ve got to a city to see. Tonight, our first-ever Broadway show, actually performed ON Broadway. Yee-Haw!!

Chow for now!