Concert report: Allen room 2/4/13

OMG!

I thought that c109 would be third row and way off to the side.  I never thought I would be front row center directly in front of Josh's mike.  

I knew I had been on the website, signed in, waiting at 11 am & took the first tix available -- and this time the website did not freeze or fail -- but front row center?  Wow, just wow.

OK, now I know you all saw this concert in the movie theaters, so I'll try to focus on the parts you didn't see.  I think I was too freaked out by being straight in front of Josh to actually hear much anyway, though my impression was that the show went well -- very smoothly & very polished.

First of all, the Allen Room is not really at Lincoln Center.  This was said to be broadcast from Lincoln Center, and technically I guess this room is part of that, but really it's at Columbus Circle, a good six blocks away.

Another peculiar thing about the Allen room is that it's in a shopping mall, a place called Shops at Columbus Circle -- a very high end mall, which has several floors below ground and 4 floors above ground, and the Allen Room up on the fifth floor.  The box office is on the ground floor, and the elevator up to the Allen Room is only operational when the concert is in session.  Apparently it is mostly used for jazz, as it's labelled with "Jazz" everywhere.

All of the mall, and the Allen Room, have huge picture windows onto Columbus Circle and Central Park South beyond.  My friends and I spent the hour before the show at a really cool lounge on the 4th floor of the mall, which has lovely couches.  They only charge $4 for a sparkling water, but a champagne cocktail was like $16 -- still it was an incredibly nice place to wait.  

Walking into the Allen room we were greeted with a couple of things that made me nervous.  One was that we were told that if we left to go to the bathroom we would not be allowed back in.

I find this really annoying.  I belong to several handicapped groups.  One of them is those of weak bladder.  This is a very large and seldom discussed group, which includes everyone under 5, almost everyone over 60, and all women who have borne children.  Handicap accessibility for this huge group is routinely ignored, with lack of public restroom facilities in many places.  I find this policy, which is not just for televised concerts, BTW, but for all concerts I've been to at Lincoln Center, is an example of lack of handicap accessibility.

In any case, I was expecting this, so I dehydrated myself before the concert -- and fortunately did not get light headed.  I had just that one glass of water at the lounge between about 1:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.

The other thing that worried me a bit was the lighting, which was a strange bluish or greenish color and made me slightly queasy.  Fortunately, it was turned off during the concert.

Some of the musicians started wandering in before the concert.  Ruslan Sirota created an especial stir, because he's been so assiduous about corresponding with Grobies on twitter.  He seemed a bit surprised at the reaction.  

They told us, of course, that photos and recording would not be allowed.  I did have a recording device with me, but I decided not to even try to use it, since, being front row center I was sure to be spotted if I did something like that.  One of my friends suggested that I should put it on in my purse or under my clothes, but I don't think that would have worked from a sound point of view. 

I normally like to make my own recordings, as they have larger frequency range than the ones in CDs, so they can preserve overtones, but I don't think that would have made that much difference at this particular concert.  The sound did not seem that distinct to me, at least where I was sitting.

In fact, it was way too loud for me in the beginning.  I quickly realized that for a concert being broadcast to movie theaters having the slightly autistic woman with the auditory sensitivities front row center was not too cool.  I plugged my ears for Brave.  I hoped the later songs would be softer, but they weren't, so I put in ear plugs.

Ear plugs have the advantage that my ears don't hurt and the sound seems clearer to me -- but they also clip overtones.  When I had the ear plugs in, the live concert sounded to me like the video recording of the Times Center one.  If you've been reading my blog, you will notice that I commented that the video recording, which I viewed later, did not sound anything like the live one.  The Times Center was loud, but not nearly so loud as the Allen Room was at the beginning.

Josh apparently noticed my distress and commented on the volume.  They turned it down after that and I was able to take out the ear plugs.  He gets to wear ear plugs throughout the whole concert, so presumably he hears whatever he wants to hear in there.

I was very relieved that the volume was turned down, and hope others were too.   I hope that I'm like a canary in a mine that gives warning when the atmosphere is going toxic.   I know some people like to have their ears blown out at live concerts.  I have always supposed that that was not the case with Josh's fans, since I don't think of his music as being of that kind, but I don't know.  

For me, given the kinds of sensitivities that I have, Josh has been one of the few musicians I could stand to listen to at all, so I would hate to think he was going in the direction of becoming like the others.  I know the new album is supposed to be a bit more rock-like.  I hope I don't have to give up on him.

Not being able to take pictures is not a hardship for me.  I don't like taking pictures. I'm a lousy photographer and my cell phone is not the sort that takes good pictures. 

Here is me trying to photograph myself with a flash in the mirror so you can see the colors in my outfit.

Right.  I pose no threat to these venues.  They should laugh at the idea of me taking pictures.  Or maybe they think I would make the concert look bad if let people see these kind of pictures.

Still, I know some fans are actually great photographers, though I don't understand what's wrong with their taking photos.  They make the concert look good.  They make Josh look good.  

I definitely prefer when only the piano and the guitar are playing, because it's quieter and I can hear the music more distinctly.   I feel that the amplification blurs the orchestra so it's hard to distinguish the instruments in it, but maybe my auditory sensitivities are causing my ears to play tricks on me.

I wonder if the whole thing would have sounded better if I were in the movie theaters.

Still, it was great to watch Josh up close and really focus on him.  I was so close that I could actually see circular light reflections from his contact lenses at times.  That was weird, when the light hit the contact lenses just right.

He does look thinner in person than he looks in photos.  Photos flatten out the person, taking away the depth, so that parts of the body that are actually on the person's sides look like they're in front.  That fattens a person.  He's really quite thin.  Some fans have been concerned that he's too thin.  Well, he's not as thin as Ruslan Sirota, who is really, really thin.  I wouldn't say that Josh looks like he's starving or anything.

I was pleased to see that his hair looked really good.  It looked rather atrocious when I saw him up close at Live with Kelly and at the Americans for the Arts Awards.  It makes a huge difference when he has a professional attending to it.

Another thing I could see was Josh's hands trembling.  That could have been nerves.  I could see that the time that he used both hands on the mike was when he couldn't hold the mike steady with the right hand.

Of course, I've been worried about Josh's hands as long as I've been watching him.  He doesn't have good positioning when he plays the piano.  He takes voice lessons three times a week.  The voice teacher teaches him how to protect his voice.  He doesn't take piano lessons, as far as I know, so presumably there's no one to teach him how to protect his hands.  

I personally got carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand from typing with poor positioning.  I always use wrist braces or typing gloves when typing, playing the piano, sleeping, or driving a car, which keeps things under control.  

Looking at Josh's hands up close I was even more worried than I have ever been before.  I had an acquaintance who got really severe repetitive stress injuries from doing too much origami and essentially lost control of his hands.  Josh's hands reminded me a of the way that guy's hands looked, though not quite as bad.  His left thumb especially concerned me.    I hope he has a neurologist looking at them.

After the broadcast show was ended he did do an encore of "Play Me," but after that one they turned the sickening lights back on, so we knew we weren't going to be able to get him do another encore.

I did not dare go to the bathroom before going to the stage door, because that was part of how I missed Josh on the way out after the Marvin Hamlisch concert.  I needn't have worried.  He took his time coming out.  I guess that's what he does when he means to do autographs.

Everyone else came out first.  Ruslan & Andre hugged some of the Grobies.  Andre was particularly fearless venturing out amongst us before Darren got us behind barricades.  

We cheered the chorus members as they came out and they looked pleasantly surprised.  I realized that we never found out who they were.   

Some of us even cheered for the building guards.  I figure guards could use the occasional cheer,  as well.

Darren came out and joked with us that Josh had decided to spend the night in the building, because he was scared of us.  I had cased the joint before.  I knew there were plenty of other doors he could have gotten out of if he had really wanted to.

After Darren got us behind the barricades, Tariqh and Christian came out.  Some Grobies got them to do autographs also.  I should get their autographs. They gave lots of people hugs and took photos with Grobies.  They're both bigger than Josh and perhaps not so easily knocked over.  

Darren made clear that we were not to take any posed photos with Josh.

There was some trouble while we were waiting for Josh to come out, because we were blocking the sidewalk.  I don't think there were more than 30 of us, but the sidewalk wasn't all that big, so it was easy to block.  

Some of the passers by decided to wait with us so they could see Josh also.  At least one passer by seemed not to have heard of him.   I was distressed that the Grobies seemed not too interested in educating him, but people were more focused on that door, knowing that Josh really was about to come out.

Josh was good about signing everyone's stuff and he was very kind and gracious as usual.  He had taken off the hated contacts and was wearing glasses.  I personally prefer him in glasses.  He looks so much more relaxed wearing them -- and I worry about the contacts bothering him.  His smile is so much more genuine when his eyes don't hurt.  Also he gives better eye contact.

Darren agreed to take the present for Josh that I failed to give Josh on New Year's eve.  I hope he really gives it to him and doesn't just throw it out.  I suppose Josh gets too many presents, but I did put a lot of thought into that one.  Sigh.  It's hard being one of so many fans.  At least I don't have it sitting around at home reminding me of my foolish failure to get out promptly after the Marvin Hamlisch concert.

Still, I find that I am recognizing more and more faces at these New York events, people who I have met before.  

Deb, who won the Manhattan coffee with Josh, and who was the other fan outside the stage door at New Year's eve, told me she still has not gotten her coffee date, but she did not expect it before the album release.

Addendum:

I don't know if you could hear in theaters, but the crowd cheered when DJ Nicoletti's question was answered.  We were mostly Grobies & we all know her.

2d addendum:

Josh said on the way out that the movie tix had sold well, so he might do it again this way.

3rd addendum

That mall has great restrooms.  This is going to be an important resource for me, if I'm in that area and need one.  Just a tip, though, the flushing mechanisms are overactive.  I found I had to get my hose down first and then put the paper on the seat and then sit down very quickly, else the toilet would flush & take the paper with it.

4th addendum

I suspect that this time the movie goers had the better acoustics.  I think that in the small venue the sound of the live instruments so close interfered with the sound from the amplifiers, making the whole thing more blurry.

 A violin or a trumpet is quite different from an electric guitar.  The live sound of an electric guitar cannot be heard over the sound of the amplifier.  A violin or a trumpet is designed to fill a large concert hall without amplification.  In a small hall, that makes for a confusing sound.