If you are familiar in the least with the morning news/talk shows on the major networks you know that they all seem to have concerts on Fridays during the summer. This Friday I managed to haul my lazy bones out of bed at a ridiculously early hour to attend my first morning show concert.
I accompanied my darling daughter to the Midtown Manhatten News Corp. concert set of Fox and Friends. We drove in from NJ and arrived at 48th Street and 6th Avenue at about 6:30 am, if you should happen to take public transportation, this would be the nearest subway station.
Once we arrived on site my daughter quickly found a college friend and proceeded to catch up on all the news and move in close to the stage for a fabulous view of the performance. I took a little bit of a stroll over to 7th Avenue where I found a Smilers convenience store with cut flowers lining the 48th Street side of the corner store. I have a thing for market flowers and these sunflowers surely caught my eye.
The clouds and extreme humidity had Lazy Hazy Days of Summer going through my mind... well at least it's a happy tune :-)
As I stood back and took in the view of NYC and all it's glory the shop's keeper began to wet down the sidewalk in preparation of the day ahead. The city was beginning another new day and the hustle and bustle began. Workers can be seen rushing along the avenue and the lights of Broadway attractions were clearly lit in the background.
It was a quick walk back to 6th Avenue, where a very familiar scene from my many years of working in the city was encountered. The corner coffee cart, a workers' morning necessity long before Starbucks arrived in town. Coffee, rolls, bagels, donuts you could find them all right there at the corner cart. Quick, convenient and most importantly very inexpensive!
I couldn't resist... I got on line and partook in a delightful "regular" coffee. (Passed on all the carbs, breakfast would come after the show). I found a bench right on the corner
with a fabulous view of the stage and far enough from the speakers to avert deafness. (Yeah, I said it... I've come to really enjoy hearing and would like to keep it around for awhile)
The show's guest band was Gloriana... a country band that seems to be taking charts by storm. My daughter has been listening to their music for a couple of years now, she believes they are very talented and haven't received the recognition they deserve as yet. You can read her blog review of their latest album
A Thousand Miles Left Behind [Stop by her blog and show her some blog love;-)]
The performance was fun and the band stills has a great love of their fans... they freely gave away copies of their CD and autographs were gladly shared.
After the show we had a quick breakfast and started to head over to Central Park. We made it as far as the bus stop on 48th and 6th but the heat and lack of sleep didn't play well for us so we just decided to head back to NJ and call it an early day.
It's hard to believe that I used to work just four blocks from here, it's even harder to believe that it was over 30 years that my career had move further downtown to the Financial District!
The move from Television & Radio to Brokers & Traders was quite a culture shock, but that's a story for another day.