The first group to fly to New York this morning, the Cassandre crew, made it to New York without a hitch. Operations goddesses Maggie Bailey and Andrea Drinkall had prepared for all of us three-ring binders that contained instructions on where to be, who to be with, where to wait, what to do when you got to where you were going.
Maggie greeted us at the ticket counter, looking not the least bit harried. Of course, there is another flight of musicians, chorus and children's chorus coming tomorrow (the Adams/Brahms crew) -- so there's a long way to go.
Boarding with Henry Claude, percussion; Stephen Lange, trombone; Lisa McCullough, English horn
All was at ease at the boarding gate until a buzz started going about the orchestra. We hadn't even left the airport and we had our first celebrity sighting.
Wasn't that Daryl Strawberry?
Scott Parkman, foreground, Daryl Strawberry's back, background
It was. The former fearsome slugger for the Mets looked fit and pleasant, and none other than clarinet player Diana Haskell had the chutzpah to ask him for an autograph. The Straw obliged.
When it came time for boarding, Strawberry was not seated in first class, but right next to violist Shannon Farrell.
And Shannon had no idea who her traveling companion was.
"So, what do you do in New York?" she asked innocently.
"I work for the Mets," Strawberry replied.
And that was pretty much that. She didn't ask what pitcher he most feared facing. She didn't ask how Keith Hernandez shook up the club when he came over from the Cardinals. None of that.
I suspect Daryl was relieved. Shannon did, however, ask him to sign her barf bag. He did.
We chatted about other celebrity sightings. Trombone player Tim Myers told me that during the Far East tour a number of years ago, the orchestra stayed at the same hotel as the Rolling Stones in Tokyo. SLSO keyboardist Barbara Lieberman actually rode in the elevator with Mick.
When we arrived at La Guardia we boarded shuttle buses to the Helmsley, a couple blocks from Carnegie. Along the way, one of the Henchmen (see previous post) Joe Clapper, gave those of us fortunate enough to ride on his shuttle a running commentary of New York. "Cuban-Chinese cuisine. I don't think that's such a good idea." He spotted a chair left on a sidewalk. "Jeremy," he alerted artistic VP Jeremy Geffen, "we need that chair for Cassandre." And so forth.
Keyboardist Barbara Lieberman briefly sang a couple verses to "New York, New York" as we crossed the bridge into Manhattan. Then oboist Peter Bowman shouted out, "Babs, there's Bloomingdales. We'll leave you here and pick you up on the way back."
At the hotel, Andrea greeted us smiling, smiling, smiling.
Andrea Drinkall smiling, smiling, smiling
The musicians dispersed for a short night out. Cassandre rehearsal tomorrow, performance in the evening.
We've been having difficulty with internet connections at the hotel, but I will attempt to get some photos up tomorrow, including a shot of the back of Daryl Strawberry's head.
