FOTR in NYC in OCT...

[Lithilien Quicksilver]

MrsFB, I'm so sorry I didn't see your post in time to respond. I had no opportunity while in NYC to visit the boards at all.

My trip was wonderful. Thursday night Over and Tamara and I went to see Beecake and had the extra bonus of seeing Elijah and Howard Shore there. I didn't approach either of them, but did speak in passing to HS, just to say it was nice to see him again. The fans were nice for the most part and left them to enjoy the concert and the company of the friends/family they came with.

Friday morning I did my usual thing of just wandering round for a bit, then we went to see the Tolkien manuscripts... very cool, very entertaining. The man had the tiniest script I've ever seen, and such an agile mind! I learned that a nail is the basic Hobbit measure, and three nails equal one toe, etc., etc.

Friday night was the tor.n moot, which was also nice. Saw lots of folks there and had a lovely, relaxing time.

Saturday morning jan-u-wine arrived at my hotel and we breakfasted together, then she went to settle in to her hotel and we met back up around 1:30 to go to the Russian Tea Room. I'd always wanted to go, but didn't find opportunity til this trip. I really enjoyed sitting down to a Russian traditionally served pot of tea and their famous blintzes. And the place is gorgeous! A real highlight of my trip.

Then I walked jan part way to the Tolkien exhibit, waited for her in Central Park and read for a while. After, we both went back to our hotels to prepare for FOTR that night.

That was one incredible performance! Howard and Doug Adams intro'd the film/symphony. The music was gorgeous, very well in sync with the film, and the film really hit me harder than it had for some time. I couldn't even let Frodo get out of the Shire before I was crying, and kept crying for the rest of the film. Plus, stupid me didn't even think to bring tissues! How could I have done that?

Jan was to come back to my room, but before she could get there, the elevators went out and she wasn't inclined to walk up five flights, so that was the last I saw of her. She flew out the next morning.

Sunday morning we went down to attend at least some of the panels before we would have to leave so I could make it back to Philly in time for my evening flight. Thankfully, Colleen's panel was just beginning when we arrived, so I got to see her and catch up for a few minutes. Then David Salo spoke while we waited for Howard and his wife to arrive. She was showing a short that she filmed behind the scenes of Howard's creation of the film scores. Very, very cool. We had to leave before their Q and A, though.

In all, lovely, lovely time. And of course they are doing it again next October for TTT. I am not completely certain, but I imagine I shall be back there again in a year, and the year after that for ROTK.

[GondorsQueen]

Thanks for the recap Lith!

Sounds like you had a fun filled, jam packed, exciting trip!

Hum, next October for TTT?
*makes mental note to remember this*

[Tamara]

Sorry it's taken me so long to post my NYC weekend notes- midterms are upon me right now.

Thursday travel started out well- caught my train and got to the airport and through security quickly. Arrived on time and found my friend Kitsa- a local- waiting to guide me through the MTA's transit system. Went to call fellow Ringer Garfeimao...and discovered I could not. Luckily, she had another group she planned to travel with if I failed her, so Kitsa and I took to the trains.

Arrived at the hotel and discovered that I had trouble both sending AND receiving calls and texts on my phone. Spent the time catching up with Kitsa until I called Deej from TORn and she said her dinner reservation was for 8- not 11pm- for the 11:30 concert. I had not printed any info and just had my concert ticket, so I headed out with Kitsa to the club. Meantime, I finally heard from Lith and Over that they were arrived. Panicked them about the dinner, but then arrived at the club to discover, dinner was still at eleven, so I called them back to let them know they had a few more hours to prepare. Kitsa and I killed time window shopping and hanging at Starbucks, where we met Garf and chatted until 11 or so, before we walked over to the club. Met up with Lith, Over and several other TORn folks, where we waited for the club to let us in...and waited...and waited. Of course, at the end we spotted Elijah and had some eye candy while we waited...so not a bad exchange.

Beecake was great. Billy opened with a couple of numbers that surprised me- as a tenor, they were much lower than I expected, so it was nice to see him stretching his vocal range. He introduced almost every song with a short story and most or all of their music has a social, ethical commentary: war, materialism,etc. The location was great (I know they were headed to my backyard in Cambridge the next day and cringed to know they would have only half the space and a much smaller stage- glad I saw them in NYC). Drinks were good, if spendy at $14 a pop, but it was all about the music that night. Like Lith said though, seeing Elijah and Howard were nice extras!

Friday morning I went on a hotel visit with Garf to the Ritz Carleton by the park, since she works in travel. It was nice, despite the rain and we got to see rooms I'll never be able to afford without 6 other roommates, but it was nice to see how the upper class live. I really wish we had been able to do their special cupcake tea that weekend, because it was under $30 and their high tea is over $60- a bargain and did I mention...CUPCAKES! Headed back to the hotel to change back to jeans and meet up with Lit and Over before we all headed over to see the manuscripts at 1pm. Nice leisurely stroll to the venue and although the exhibit was small- 2 cases- it held some lovely material. Tolkien's script was so tiny, but his ability to organize vast amounts of information was amazing. There were timelines for the books tracking each major group (Merry/Pippin, Frodo/Sam, Sauron, Saruman, Viggo/Legolas/Gimli, etc.) Most of it on cheap, lined paper that looked like modern notebooks....that today no one would keep in the days of the PC. Thank goodness it was all saved. Afterwords, we rambled through Central Park back to the hotel. Relaxed for awhile before heading over to the pub for TORn's Ringer gathering at 7pm. Trains were awesome (wish we'd known we were only going one stop) and we arrived by 6:30 to discover they had moved us from the 3rd to 2nd floor. Still, we weren't the first folks to arrive. A bunch of us beat the organizers! I called Deej to let her know folks were already at the pub and they arrived shortly. I ate lots of cheese c=sticks and nachos while joining my lovely roommates Lith and Over imbibing lovely Cranberry Vodkas (I think. Not sure what it was at that point, but if it's fruity, I'm happy). Played some trivia, at which I failed miserable, and reminded me how long it has been since I read the books and must do so again. Lith and I walked back early and relaxed for awhile before bed.

Saturday was more good fun with my friend Kitsa in the morning. We are old friends from the Witchblade fandom. Garf and I actually met at a Witchblade convention in Toronto many moons ago, so she joined us as we went to the West End Village and had some yummy Mexican food at Tio Pepe's. Nice margaritas too, followed by something tasting of coca-cola in a shot glass. (I'd like to say now that I drank more this weekend that in the past 6 months combined. This is WAY more than I usually have). We visited a tea shop and I picked up some fresh fruit from a street vendor and then we went back to the hotel to get ready for the LOTR concert. Howard and Doug Adams had an interesting presentation before the show around 6:30, which was cool, but then....The concert was magnificent! It was so moving, especially the solos, and I was happy to hear the crowd really embracing the musicians. With Billy in attendance on Friday, we heard that the fangirls got carried away and roared at all of his scenes- acting inappropriately for a cultural event and turning off the regular symphony attendees. Picked up a pizza on the way back and shared dinner back in our room. And, at last, when I turned my phone back on after the concert, all of my voice and text messages from Thursday afternoon finally were available!

Sunday was confusing. Garf and I were going to head over together, but those plans got scratched. Luckily, Lith and Over decided to check out the panels before leaving, so we shared a cab over to the event, missing 30-40 minutes or so. I was sad to miss Kirsten sing, she's in my local line party group, but glad we caught Colleen Doran. I love Colleen. Not only do I have some of her work from the first ORC convention, but I love how generous she is in appreciating other Tolkien artists. Others might have only shown their own work, but she presented a great variety of other worls and brought free Legolas prints too. Lovely woman. David Salo talked about the Tolkien languages, then Howard's wife introduced her short documentary, which was cool (seeing how Howard works to create), and then Doug and Howard doing a presentation, then Q&A. So intimate compared to the concert. Caught another cab back to the hotel with Hobbitlove and some other Ringers with a terrible driver- I am amazed he didn't deafen or kill us during the trip. Kitsa and I then met and went out to Pogo's a veggie restaurant that was terrific! I ingested more carbs the first three days than I care to think about, so it was good to get some veggies. Yum! We went to Grom's for the best cinnamon gelato I've ever had and then hung out the rest of the evening. She stayed over to guide me back to the airport at 6:30am...what a friend! The trip went smoothly and I headed back to Boston w/o any mishaps.

Of course, I wound up feeling too unwell to return to work Tuesday, but since I frequently catch something while traveling (I'm going to need to start wearing a med mask on the plane, I swear), it was no surprise.

And now, back to the midterm...
---Tamara