NYC Birthday Celebration!

For the past now six years I've celebrated my birthday at the Great New York State Fair with the wonderful staff I have the pleasure of working with.  I always go out and celebrate with my friends Mike and Lyndsy prior to the start of the fair.  This year, since it will be the big 3-0 I decided I wanted to do something a little different.  I normally have the Monday between the Iowa State Fair and my trip to Syracuse that I take to sleep in and work on phone calls and paperwork for NYSF.  This year we made plans to meet in NYC.  I was able to get the majority of my work knocked out prior to the trip but then also once I arrived at the hotel.  After being at the Iowa State Fair until 2:30a on Sunday/Monday, then having to return to the hotel to pack, I was taken to the airport at 5:30a for a 7a flight.  CRAZY!!  I arrived in NYC with no problem, cabbed to the hotel and wasn't able to check in.  I attempted to walk around for a few minutes but there wasn't much going on around our hotel.  I went back to the hotel to wait for my friends and ended up getting a lot of work done.  They had driven down to Albany and taken the train over.  They were running late so I got checked into the hotel and took a nap.  I'm glad I did!  As soon as they arrived we hit the town.  I have a friend from high school and a friend from college that now live in NYC.  I ended up touching base with them and they were the best tour leaders. :)  We made it to Time Square.  For some reason it's a lot smaller and less enjoyable then it was when I was there several years ago.  

Time Square

Lyndsy and I

Carnagie Deli.  Didn't stop but stopped for a pic

We ate at Vinny's BBQ which had some great BBQ! It was time to find out way to the Hudson Bar for drinks with Martha and Erin.  After several detours, passing the bar twice because the signage was hidden, we arrived.  

Literally, the sign was about this big.

They had this great outdoor bar that had couches, seats and just perfect for a small gathering.  

Erin (college friend) and I

Martha (high school friend) and I

Martha was then invited to a party a couple miles away.  We hopped in a cab and went down to the Local bar.  After making it through security we found that it was a press conference to announce a large tennis event that is going to be hosted at Madison Square Garden.  Someone was pointing out the celebrity athletes...I was lost.  They just looked like any other guy.  Apparently there were several tennis players, Jaba from the Yankees and more.  

View of crazy NYC traffic from Local Bar rooftop

We decided to head down to the West Village and visit a bar that was just a local hangout.  We hopped on the subway this time.  Two locals, Two NYers and one southern girl making their way through a subway station and figuring out directions.  It was comical!  We stopped at John's Pizza...amazing!  Then found ourselves at a great karaoke bar.  It was an amazing night.  We had so much fun!! I was happy to see my friends.  

Which way do we go? 

Subway fun

Erin and I with our bartender Tina

Lyndsy, Mike and I woke up and headed to the train station.  Riding a train has been on my bucket list for a while.  I've wanted to just on a train and ride across the country.  This was a good test.  First we fought the battle of moving my two huge suitcases around Penn Station through the lines of people.  The escalator was out so we had to take two separate banks of elevators.

Penn Station

Finally getting seated we found two sets of seats across from each other.  They sat next to each other and I had one seat for me, one for my purse. :)  I managed to fall right to sleep.  I think I ended up curled up in a ball trying to get comfortable.  The kids behind me whined every half hour about their trip being 8+ hours.  Ours was only two thank goodness!  As we're all resting, we make a stop a pick up a family of 5.  One of the ladies traveling with kids comes up and down the aisle screaming trying to find seats together or nearby for all of them.  She didn't have an inside voice.  As we get off the train in Syracuse it came to me that I was just able to go through a public venue with a large amount of people, get on a way of large public transportation and make it to my destination without my bags being checked or my ID.  While I'm used to the traveling process of the air this just creeped me out.  They didn't even check my ticket until we were a half hour away from the city.  I think I'm going to stick to flying.  Unless there's a train out there like the Hogwart's train....then I'm game. :)  We were able to use every type of local transportation and 'see the city' in less than 13 hours.  Awesome trip!

Alan Jackson-Gary Allan

Today in my normal world things couldn't have gone any better.  Alan Jackson's crew arrived early (made the early morning heck after a late night) to get a jump start on the day.  We had the fabulous antique tractor event on the track so we couldn't move the stage into place until later in the afternoon.  You can imagine how entertaining the antique tractors are...they can't go over 3.5mph.  Because we can't walk across the track when end up having to use a shuttle service with golf carts from the stage to backstage.  Our runners were so bogged down with runs I ended up taking over one of the carts.  I would switch up which side I was on based on whether I needed to be in that spot to handle something.  So if there were questions at the stage I just made sure I was on that side.  Multitasking at it's finest right there.  Everything was fine and dandy until an act that I booked on another stage started raising all kinds of heck.  I was on the phone going back and forth between the fair employees and the act's agent to try and settle down the issues.  Needless to say this was the black cloud on the day.  Everything with the grandstand stage went great.  They all worked together nicely and came up with logical solutions to problems.  It's crazy how simple and easy it can actually be.  Alan Jackson ends up setting an entire 20x20 tent up for their meet and greet.  Green carpet, backdrop etc. to set a little mood.

As we were getting ready to do Gary Allan's meet and greet, one of the band guys was walking Gary's dog, Lucy.  A very cute black and white labradoodle.  Once Lucy spotted Gary walking away from her he turned to follow.  He told her to lay and stay, she promptly listened as you'll see here.  She even poses for pictures!

Miss Lucy posing

It's nice that some artists travel with their furry friends.  As the line dwindled down Lucy became restless and went to pose with Gary.  She even ended up cocking her head so she was seen around a guitar in one picture.  Gary didn't even call her over or tell her to sit in the picture on the right.  She got there all by herself.

This show ended up being the largest show this year.  Over 9,500 people and a really great crowd.  We really couldn't have closed it out any better.




The cart bandits struck again last night. :)  We parked Mark's cart on top of the bunker.  He happened to leave an entire roll of tape.  So I proceeded to tape up his entire cart.  I had to crawl between an opening in the tape to get in.  A few of the guys ended up getting him five more times today with the cans.  LOL  Now I'm off to find the cart.  I have a big box of saran wrap in hand.  Off to NYC tomorrow!!!

Carly Rae Jepsen- The Wanted

To say we like to have fun at the fair is an understatement.  Last year, one late night after a really long day a few security guys and the producer (me) decided to hide the production guys golf cart.  That evolved to three days later actually putting it up on the stage.  Even though the carts owner (Mark) found out who the main culprit was (me) last year he still left his cart sitting around last night.  As he's hard at work loading equipment out we stole his cart and well...you'll see the rest here.

Creativeness at it's finest at 1AM

The fun didn't stop there.  The next morning he was shown the cart.  For some reason he refused to drive it around the fairgrounds and took the majority of the tape off.  However, he missed a few strips.  Including a cheetah print and bright pink stripe on the front.  I got a call this afternoon to meet someone.  We went to find the cart.  It had been parked in it's usual spot and Mark had walked across to the hotel.  Cans were attached by string to the back of his cart, tied tightly around a pipe under the cart.  Far enough up that it was difficult to remove.  The cans were shoved underneath the cart and we even parked it differently so he would notice them.  Then one of his own employees called him to tell him there was a major problem in the grandstand that needed his assistance.  We park off in a corner to watch.  He comes running across the street, jumps on the cart and takes off.  He makes it 20ft before he hears the cans and screeches to a halt.  He jumps off the cart and is underneath trying to untie it.  We roll up trying to see what's going on and he just hangs his head "you got me AGAIN!".  I'm still hysterically laughing just thinking about it.  So what to do next!?

Today's show was with Carley Rae Jepsen and The Wanted.  A tiny but mighty crowd.  There are a lot of little kids but dang their screams pack a punch.  I'm hiding in the bunker to avoid losing my hearing. :)  At first I thought it was going to be a terrible day.  Typically these types of bands are really needy.  Carley Rae's tour manager is phenomenal, probably one of the best in the business.  The day has been so smooth.  They did arrive later than expected because of a long ride from their show at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville, KY last night.  I've now concluded that we can never expect anyone to make it here from there before 10AM.  I will tell you that it never fails that these acts that attract young kids, are typically the most spontaneous, last minute people ever.  These guys take about 5mins to get ready (well at least it looked that way) and they're still late getting on stage.

I got out on the grounds a couple of times today.  I saw one of the strolling acts while I was out.  Can you imagine being on those stilts all day??

I mentioned in a previous blog about the butter cow being defaced and an animal rights group claiming their fame.  Well, the Iowa State Fair decided to benefit off of their actions.  Their foundation that is etablished to raise money for the rehabilitation of the fairgrounds had t-shirts printed up within 48hours as seen below.  I made sure to get mine yesterday!

Lastly for tonight, I have to give a shout out to the fabulous team we have here at the Iowa State Fair.  From the sound and light folks (including the guy that we get a few laughs from with his golf cart), video crew, caterers, runners, maintenance guys, security personnel, ticketing and marketing and the list goes on and on, we have one of the BEST teams in here in Iowa.  My job is so much easier when I have people surrounding me that can actually do theirs.

Freestyle Productions, the BEST video crew

The Today Show-Train-Matt Nathanson

What a day!  I made the brave attempt to wake up after only three hours of sleep to go out in the cold at 5AM to see Al Roker and The Today Show being filmed live at the Iowa State Fair.  I had no clue what to expect but knew I wanted to be in the front row.  I wasn't sure how big of a crowd would actually show up at that time.  Truth is...no one else that didn't have to be there.  I wish I had found out the schedule before we decided on 5AM.  lol  After watching the fair manager and Al Roker do a segment for The Weather Channel, we decided to grab breakfast and see what was going on a little later.

Al Roker and Gary Slater, the fair manager

 It had transformed by the time we came back.  For one thing the sun was up and there was now a small crowd forming of mostly board members and the fair queen.  They began setting up for the animal segment.  A cattle trailer pulls up and the walk out the largest bull, all 3,500 lbs of him!  It was the biggest cow I had ever seen...times two.  They also had an Angus steer, huge lamb and the prize winning pigeon.  The pigeon was even three times bigger than a usual pigeon.  Al went down the line, introduced himself and asked the folks holding the cattle what happens if one gets loose?  He said "well, I just have to be able to run faster than you guys!"  Just as he's joking the top of the pigeon's cage opens and out flies the pigeon.  Everyone, including Al was screaming.  No one thought about the pigeon!  I guess he felt he was being ignored.  As they panned past each animal I was on my tiptoes (in the 2nd row) behind the steer trying to get in the shot.  I guess I looked like one of those idiots that would be behind the anchors in the studio.  As soon as the short segment was over, they cleared the area and as quick as those left another set came in.

Big lamb

Squirt- the 3,500lb bull

Next up was a over sized tire act, balloon artist, a one man band and a pie eating contest.  That one was only 45 seconds long but we had to wait 10 mins for it be "our" turn.  They also revealed a wood and ice sculpture that had been working on several sculptures for some time.  The ice sculpture unveiled a sculpture of Al!

Ice Sculpture of Al and the Statue of Liberty

What they were able to do with very little equipment and seamlessly bring things in and out was great to see.  They had been here for 3 days preparing before.  Apparently because of the lead time the staff thought they needed more than when the President visited last year.  After seeing what they brought together, I can understand that!
After the second segment I headed back to the hotel to catch another 3 hours of sleep.  By 10:30A my phone was ringing off the hook.  I should have known there was going to be at least one show that didn't go as planned.  One that one thing starts going wrong and the rest of the day starts going downhill.  We worked through the day, the show they put on was great and is always entertaining.  I'm so exhausted from having to play double duty today that I don't even want to walk up to the stage.  Tomorrow will be better!  :)  

Train rockin the Iowa State Fair

Toby Keith- Kip Moore

I'm seriously getting spoiled with this big shows and really easy days.  I thought even before I advanced the show for today that it was going to be a handful.  At no point did I worry about it.  They rolled in this morning at 6:45a, yes I've been here since 6:30a, rolled off the buses leisurely and were ready for a great day.  The tour manager didn't wait one minute before cutting up and getting us all laughing.  Our great catering lady rolls up, pops her truck and he looks inside.  He gives her a hard time for not having sprinkled doughnuts to only find one.  :)

And then she gets a hug

The entire crew was just magnificent.  They worked smarter not harder. The logistics of this stage is just a nightmare.  I mean the thing rolls for goodness sakes.  But they decided to park trucks on either side of the stage to ease the time of load in and especially load out.  Everyone worked together and by 3PM we were all sitting her twiddling our thumbs.  Well not really, we were working but I was actually able to really pound out some stuff for NY.  

I had the opportunity to go boot shopping with one of the board members.  I didn't think I was going to find a style I liked that they actually had my size in.  Jerry found one!  Sold!  I ended up wearing them for the show tonight and they were surprisingly very comfortable.  Can't wait to get them broken in.

My first pair of big girl boots!

They always say it starts from the top and trickles down.  It couldn't have been any truer with this group.  Toby came into the catering room for dinner.  He talked with the caterers and local crews that were in the room.  He was extremely friendly through his meet and greet.  Just a really good guy.  

6 Trucks and  6 Buses and we're ready for a show!

Awesome light show!

The tour had said all day that they were loaded out last night in an hour and 10mins.  I said all day, if you are out in less than an hour and 30 I'll buy you a beer!  To my amazement they were loaded up in an hour and 5mins!!  Absolutely crazy.  We had trucks pulled to every inch possible at the stage.

Now I'm off to get about 3 hours of sleep.  The Today Show and Al Roker will be filming live from the fair tomorrow morning.  I can't miss that!!  The 4:45AM wake up call is not going to be pretty however.  =)

A day (ok evening) at the Iowa State Fair

I'm usually stuck in my "world" of backstage so I rarely get to venture out to see the fairs I visit.  I really never get time to get out of the 3 block radius that I usually stay in here and see the city.  This year I had the opportunity to do both!  We don't have concerts in the grandstand on Monday and Wednesday because they have track events with cars and tractors.  I typically stay at the hotel and work on the computer and phone advancing shows for the New York State Fair.  I will then venture out at night to see the free stages, shows that's I've assisted in booking.  Monday I had the opportunity to head to downtown Des Moines to have dinner with a few friends that are performing here at the fair.  It was a wonderful dinner and good company.  Last night I wanted to make it a point to be a tourist or normal fair goer.  In the six years I've been coming here I haven't been in most of the main buildings and even when people mention the buildings I couldn't tell you where they were.  

I started my trek visiting the new Budweiser venue.  My friends Gladys and Leroy VanDyke were with the Country Gold Tour and were the perfect fit for senior day.  Old school country at it's finest!  Next I made my way to the Varied Industries building.  It was full of booths from colleges, to people selling stuff, to just informational booths.  I saw where all the seniors were camped out, the massage chairs. :)  I walked among the hundreds of food vendors offering up everything from deep fried everything, pizza, walking tacos, and salad on a stick (yeah I guess they can do that too).  I headed to the Cultural Center but first stopped off at several other buildings peeking my head inside to realize, from the smell, that it was show rings.  I've been in enough of those that I was just fine bypassing them.  The Cultural Center featured photos and paintings, they had balloon art, jewelry for sale.  There was someone making pottery right there in front of you and a lady teaching a couple of ladies a painting technique.  Definitely the building for me!  I then headed over to the Animal Learning Center to find my favorite, the birthing center.  They have pigs, ducks, goats, cattle, etc.  that are about to deliver their young.  If you're lucky (or not depending on how you see it) you can be there when it happens.  They film them and play it back throughout the day.  The photos below are basically my walk through of the building.  I also finally got to see the famous Butter Cow.  This has been a tradition for the Iowa State Fair for YEARS!  They choose a different sculpture to make every year as well.  Unfortunately, one of the animal rights organizations broke into the fridge Sunday morning and spilled red paint all of it and wrote a message on the window.  The fair called in the sculpture at 4AM and by the time the doors opened it was as good as new.  Had the organization not reported what they did to the media, no one would have ever known. 

Some people don't like to read...or listen

Baby ducklings

Her neck must hurt in that position

Baby calf born at 10:10AM

I always find the monkey :)

The infamous Skyglider

The Butter Cow- A Tradition of the Iowa State Fair

Beautiful orchids

Abe Lincoln made of butter

Excited for the hypnotist show

Next I got to experience something that I never thought would happen.  I've had the pleasure of knowing the, we'll say famous, hypnotist, Ron Diamond.  He is one of the most sought after performers in the industry.  He just GETS the fair scene and knows exactly how to put on a show that is great for all ages, is safe, funny and clean.  I've tried to even just see his show in the many years and had yet to see one.  Not only did I get to see the show...I was in the show!  There are always more people that want to be a part of the show than he has seats.  Doing hypnosis in a crowd like a fair is nearly impossible.  So he keeps the crowd of participants to 30.  I was thrilled to receive one of those tickets!!  I've never been hypnotized before so I had no expectations as to how it should feel, etc.  I remember everything that happened, it was just a sensation that I couldn't move drastically.  I could talk, blink, smile, laugh but at one point he asked the crowd to clap.  I thought I should be clapping too but I couldn't.  It was a very relaxing feeling and was even better and different once he woke us up.  He never made us to anything to silly or embarrassing.  He told us we were going to the fair petting zoo.  He said get up, go out into the crowd and pet the animals.  You'll see the rest in the video below.  I'm wearing a blue tank top and khaki shorts.  

On stage, I'm on the back row three in from the right

Hilarious!

After the show we all went to see the free shows with Jana Kramer, Ben Taylor (son of the great James Taylor).  My day at the fair couldn't have been better!

Susan Knapp Amphitheater 

Jana Kramer on stage- she loved her fans