The Bitter End
For this gig I caught the 8.30am American Airlines flight from Heathrow to JFK. Of course catching a flight at 8.30am means a very early start....4.00am for me! I left the house at 5.00am and got to Heathrow at about 6.15am so I parked the car and managed to get in line by 6.30am as you're supposed to check-in about 2 hours before for international flights.
Thankfully the queue was not too long although longer than it is in the winter so I had time for a cup of tea before I boarded the plane. We left on time and landed at JFK at 11.00am (US time). Unfortunately there were only 3 immigration officers working (until the US Citizens section took some of us too) so it took ages to get through.
I picked up my suitcase and caught the AirTrain out to Federal Circle where the shuttle bus to my hotel was waiting. I'm staying in Jamaica which is only about 10 minutes drive from JFK.
In the afternoon I did a bit of work and had telephone calls from 4 friends which was great but it meant that I didn't get a lot done!
I left my room at about 5.00pm and caught a taxi to Jamaica station and then a train to Penn Station. I was VERY impressed with the train service as there were trains every 10 minutes, they were clean and I was on it for about 15 minutes but it only cost $4!!
When I got out at Penn Station I asked one of the street sellers there which direction was Greenwich Village and he didn't know so eventually I found a policeman. As it was a long way I caught a taxi and got to Bleecker Street by about 7.15pm and met up with a friend for dinner and a long chat before the show.
Kasim was due on at about 9.30pm so we got there around 9.15pm but (as usual!) they were running late so we had to endure the act before his first. Usually loads of people leave between acts but when we waded into the crowd, the only seats we could see were at the side and then I couldn't see Kasim without standing as the piano was in the way! Thankfully we spotted someone we knew who had two spare seats on his table so we went and sat with him...it just happened to be one of the front tables so I literally had my leg against the stage!
Kasim played a great set but I was disappointed that he played quite a safe set but that was probably due to it being the first gig on his tour.
The gig finished at about 11.00pm so we left soon afterwards (there were loads of people wanting to talk to Kasim and I'd already been up for almost 24 hours by then). Thankfully a friend drove me back to my hotel after we'd had a bit of trouble getting out of Manhattan! I got back to my room by about 12.30am and then a couple of friends on the West Coast rang to hear about the gig so I eventually got to sleep at about 2.00am.
On Sunday I got up at 4.45am and just had a quick shower before I caught the 5.30 shuttle bus to JFK. Check-in took quite a while as there were quite a few people there but I had time for a bagel and tea before I boarded the 8.30am American Airlines flight home. It landed at 8.25pm (UK time) so by the time I'd collected my suitcase and my car and then driven home, I got in at 11.00pm
posted by SueW | 11:59 PM
