This whole trip started with a mistake that Sony made--a very lucky mistake, in retrospect. Shaye had known that they were doing a Christmas shoot in the city with Plácido Domingo, but they hadn't ironed out the details and exact date until the last minute. Less than a week before, he started to ask me if I wanted to come. I gave the usual excuse of not wanting to leave the kids, but he was persistent. He called Sony to see if he could extend our return flight so that we could make a trip out of it, but instead of checking on that for him, they just did it. Knowing that his flights were paid for gave me the extra little kick.
The day I left was hard. I was so sad about leaving my kids, even though I wanted the break. The trip fell on an unusual day when I was planning to meet with my dissertation committee. Not wanting to cancel my meeting that I'd been trying to get for months, I took the shuttle to Las Vegas, met with my committee (and had a very successful meeting too, I might add), and then jumped on a plane to New York.
Waiting for my committee in the gorgeous newly renovated Literature and Law building at UNLV. It was so nerve wracking because I've had a new committee the past 3 months or so, and I hadn't met ANY of them yet. They were so positive and gave me some great feedback. After I ate lunch with my chair, I knew it was time to PARTY.
I arrived at our hotel at about midnight after the long cab ride from JFK. I listened to songs about New York the whole way. "Welcome to New York" by Taylor Swift, "New York State of Mind" by Billy Joel, and "Autumn in New York" by Billie Holiday were my favorites. Our hotel was classic and smelled like really delicious men's cologne. When Shaye met me in the lobby with a kiss, it felt really classically romantic for me.
Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a foodie. Once on a trip I got teased extensively for having what Shaye called a "food-gasm" at an Italian restaurant. I was pregnant with Emme and ate my favorite Italian dish: Chicken Piccata. Well, the breakfast that we had at this breakfast joint was easily as good, but I tried to be more subdued this time. These were my Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with lemon curd and maple syrup. This pace was adorable and full of locals.
If Sony hadn't have put us up, I probably would have booked a hotel in Times Square because that's what I've always done. Staying in the Upper West Side was a bit out of the way, but SO much better. This part of the city is so quaint (think: You've Got Mail) and felt very family oriented and super super safe. I couldn't get enough.
These trees near a Jewish elementary school were yarn bombed. LOVE!
After lunch we spontaneously went to the Museum of Natural History. This place was SO COOL. I wish we had had more time to spend there, but Shaye had to be at the Cathedral for his shoot by 2. We spent a good hour and a half here. The coolest exhibits were the dinosaurs, the blue whale replica, and the amazing ancient civilization artifacts. Being with all of these ancient (and often gigantic) fossils made me feel very small and very young.
We headed over to the St. John the Divine cathedral. My goodness was it big and gorgeous! I couldn't believe the detail that went into this magnificant structure. (By the way, during a tour I severely embarassed myself by asking if the Pope had visited here on his visit to New York. The man giving us the tour told me that this was an Episcopalian cathedral, and I had been ignorant about the entire religion until this visit!) I was pretty nervous for Shaye because the convention for the local diesis ran way over and Plácido Domingo and the children's choir had to leave even earlier than expected, but he remained very calm.
This cathedral is the largest of its kind in the world. It was breathtakingly large and had amazing intricate detail.
While we waited for convention to end, we sat up in the coordinator's (very disorderly and cramped) office. Her dog Ellis (whom she referred to as "the peerless dog" was my little companion for awhile. I got a kick out of this woman's office because it was all centered around the dog: it's prescriptions, its bed, its food. We were pretty stressed out at this point because the venue's management just seemed all over the place, but Shaye kept reminding me that everything always comes together in the end.
What raised the stress level even more was when Mr. Domingo arrived and we they still couldn't film. He also had a very specific request that no one seemed to know about--he absolutely needed lyric cue cards. I hurried and wrote the lyrics to Silent Night on some foam board we found, and I got to be the designated lyric girl. David's assistant Carmine helped me hold the lyrics. Aside from one embarassing moment when I shined a bright light right in Mr. Domingo's eyes and upset him and flustered Shaye--oops!--it went just fine. Mr. Domingo, who we all called Maestro, even smiled at me many times between takes.
I was trying not to be too starstruck.
You would be shocked with the size of this place. It was ginormous! The feeling there was rather foreign to me. It felt different than the duomos I'd visited in Italy. It had the ornateness of a Roman Catholic cathedral but a modern liberal philosophy to go with it. In reading about the exhibit there, I could see that the church is very concerned with the environment (there were skeletons of extinct birds next to the altar), and health concerns about GMOs and things like that. The church is also well-known for being the first to accept gay marriage and female clergy, and those populations were well-represented in the people we rubbed shoulders with too. Most of the people there seemed like super tough New Yorkers, and so that along with the religious differences made the time there an interesting and educational moment for me.
When the choristers (that's what they called the children's choir) had their candles lit and were singing, it was just beautiful. The leader of the choir was pretty sharp with the kids and they were very austere throughout the filming. There was one little child who was transgender and the mothers helping were working with us to make sure we were using the right pronouns. More interesting and educational moments. Tensions were high. What was supposed to take 7-10 hours had to be accomplished in about an hour and a half. I could tell that the guys were frustrated but everyone held it together.
After Mr. Domingo and the choristers left, there were only a few of us and security in the building. The acoustics were unreal. We kept breaking into random song, one particular moment I remember we were singing about these random cupcakes way way uptown that Jeremy sent the cathedral coordinator to get. She rode an hour in the cab to get these Creme Brulee cupcakes that Jon wouldn't stop talking about. I think he ate 4 when they finally arrived.
Like always, these guys were so fun to hang with. They truly treat me like a little sister. It's so endearing, and I always leave with a major confidence boost. Steve kept insisting that I should be the one to deal with Mr. Domingo to make the rest of them look good. Jon kept saying over and over how happy he was for me to have a break from my kids. The whole gang is just special to me and they're all united in the cause of inspiring others through music. On this shoot, I was especially proud of Shaye. He had a big load to carry, but he did so with grace and professionalism. He really amazes me with his talent and business savvy. Our first full day in the big city was magical and productive.
