Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Yesterday we were fortunate enough to get yet another set of tickets for PrarieHomeCompanion at TownHall in NYC.
We got into Manhattan early thinking that the show would be at it's normal 6pm start. Wrong. The show was being taped last night to broadcast tonight so that the performers would have ChristmasEve off, so the taping started at 8.
Since we had some time to kill, Bob and I staked out seats at the restaurant bar next door while Jeanette and Cheryl went to the TownHall box office to pick up the tickets. There they met this woman and her daughter who were camped outside trying to get tickets. The woman explained that her son would be performing on the ukelele during tonight's show. Her son is a busker who plays his uke in NYC subway stations, and evidently Keillor (or someone from his staff) saw him and invited him to perform.
He called his Mom and apologized for not being home to decorate the tree, because he had this gig.
But . . . he couldn't get any extra tickets.
Mom and Sis drop everything, drive into the city and camp out waiting for cancellations.
Luckily, they were able to get two seperate seats at face value.
The kid's name is Gio Gaynor (not sure about the spelling as I only heard it at his introduction. And he's billed as the only "Heavy Metal Ukelele Player in the NYC Subway System" . . .
Kid in a pony tail comes out wearing the grey-coloured "Adamas-style" Ovation uke that I've seen gracing the pages here. He plugs in, and starts playing the intro to Guns N Roses' "Sweet Child Of Mine". The kid was GREAT! Blew the audience away! The band joined in, and the whole place was clapping along. Toward the end, he was doing Townshend-esque "windmills" on the power chords . . . It was a WHOLE lotta fun!!
I know this evening will be a pretty busy one for all, but if you can catch the broadcast . . . it's worth hearing (or taping).
Point(s) of Interest:
At the end of Gio's performance, some vociferous lout (YoursTruly) insisted on standing ON his seat clapping like a madman, and shouting "Bravo!" at the top of his rather large-capacity lungs.
. . . I figured that the two opera stars (who were also on the bill) get t'hear that enough . . . and Gio(and Mom) deserved to hear it for a change . . .
. . AND YoursTruly ALSO got a personal mention (from the stage) by Mr. Keillor himself . . . having to do with "Bourbon" and "SweetPotatoSoup" . . . but I'll not get into that . . . :rolleyes:
HavaMerry! |
Ovation Uke Sighting
