Ah, back to Poughkeepsie!
I was definitely taking photos at this show--Poughkeepsie had been a great show on the RWS tour, and we had great seats for this one as well! I made sure I was done with work a litle early and changed into my civilian clothes to wait for Dave and Allie to arrive. They showed up right at 5 and we piled into the Cruiser and bolted from White Plains just ahead of the northbound rush hour traffic.
After parking the car, we found Adrian and Ann waiting on line and learned that the Mighty City of Poughkeepsie apparently shuts down at 5 pm as there was not a single place to feed that was open nearby. A rumor that Jimmy Fallon would be opening the show was circulating as well. When the doors to the venue finallly opened, we went right for the overpriced conession stand--crummy pizza never tasted so good!
Actually--on our way in, I did get my bag searched and was advised to not use the flash on my camera during the show. This turned out to be about as strict as things got on this part of the tour for me.
We mingled a bit before heading to our seats. I bumped into another vet that I sometimes work with at the emergency clinic. OK, actually I had convinced her to go a few weeks earlier, and as it turns out, her husband is a long time Dr. D fan. We squealed at each other a bit before heading into the theater.
Our seats were third row center--just about where I'd been for the Haloween show on the RWS tour
Although I like seeing Al from pretty much ANY place in a given venue, I still REALLY like to be up front.
Allie and I were pretty sure Al was singing to us during "Pentiums" despite the sunglasses he wears during the song. Actually, we are POSITIVE he was singing to us. Yeah. We could just tell, OK?
Since this was the first show on the tour where I was playing with the camera, I did end up spending some time trying to figure out where and when the best spots to take pictures would be--for example, during "Trash Day" Al moves pretty quickly--so you really need to frame up and shoot. "Couch Potato" turned out the same way--I only got one good photo during that song this time around, but it was a pretty nice one, if I do say so myself...
I'll let my photos tell the rest of the concert end of the story...
There is no way on earth I am going to learn the entire Yoda chant this time around.
After the show, we wandered out to hang out by the busses. I have been givena mission by my model horse buddies this tour--introduce Al to Beowulf. So, I had Beo out with me just in case. The first person out was Jimmy Fallon. He signed autographs for people and was kind enough to pose for me:
"Can I ask you a weird question?"
Jimmy "Yeah, sure"
"Would you pose with my horse?" I handed him Beowulf.
"Um, Ok.....is this some kind of 'Godfather' thing...?"
Sadly, this would be the ONE time the flash on my camera screws up. So--the photo is blurry. Beowulf's fans were still pretty stoked over it.
Eventually Ruben came out and signed things. He even drew himself in a garbage can on a photo Allie had. Ruben was followed by Steve, and Jim, and finally Skip came out and anounced The Rules ("Only one autograph, no posed pictures, no life stories! If you break the rules, Al goes on the bus and everyone else deals with you!") We happily lined up.
As always, Al was wonderful with everyone--he gave me a big hello, and signed my CD booklet. I told him I enjoyed the show a lot, and he replied he was glad to hear that. Then he gave me a hug (which I wasn't expecting) and um, I nearly slugged him in the left eye. On accident. Jeez.
Most of the crowd dispersed afterwards, but Dave, Allie, Adrian, Ann and I hung out, hoping Jon would come out to say hello. Another half dozen or so fans joined us in this vigil. Eventually Skip came out again and asked who we were waiting for, didn't we have homes to go to? Apparently Skip took pity on us (or really wish we'd just get going already) because Jon was out shortly after that.
Jon hung out and talked for a while--he didn't recognize me either, until I introduced myself as "Dr Steggy" and then he did kind of a double take. I swear its the new glasses, as at least one other person I met on the last tour asked about my whereabouts to Dave while I was standing next to them...Eventually, the bus started to leave, so Jon had to excuse himself. We told him we'd see him tomorrow, and he gave me a hug goodbye and a kiss on the cheek.
And then it was one veeerrrrry long drive home.
