report on visit to GMA 2/6/13

I am assuming people actually saw this show on the Internet or on TV, so I'm not going to go over the details of what Josh did on camera -- some of which I could not see anyway.  I am only going to talk about my experiences.

I was pleased to meet @123francaisF and @FeelingCloser in person there, along with many other Grobies, such as Suzie, Lily, and @KLinGeorgia  .

It was a cold morning, so I did not show up early, as I figured there would not be many there.  This turned out to be accurate.  There were only 20 or 30 of us there.  

The GMA people were scrambling to get us to pose over near the island in the street & make us look like a bigger crowd.  They were also begging us to come back the next day, as they have some kind of an event where there are going to be prizes for people who show up, but most of us were going to Kelly & Michael, so I don't suppose there is much likelihood that we would be good candidates.

GMA does not have a true studio audience any more.  They have the audience out on the street looking in the window.  Most of the time there is audio feed out to the street, but the audio cut out during the weather report, leaving us in the dark about the upcoming blizzard -- very frustrating.  A few lucky individuals got to stand inside & take pictures with the hosts afterwards.  I have no clue who they were or how they got in.

Also, over on the island in Times Square there was no audio or video feed at all, only text.  I wasn't very inclined to go over there and pose for them as it would mean missing Josh when he was on.

I could not really see him from the window when he was co-hosting at the first desk.  There were cameras in the way.  I could only see him on the monitor.  

Later when he moved to the second desk, we could see him more clearly.  

We were behind the musicians when they performed.  I rather liked that.  We don't normally get to watch them from behind.  When they were sitting at their instruments and not performing, they smiled and waved at us.  The sound was fairly muffled for the music, but we heard most of it.  

At one point the musicians were jamming together, without Josh, and we could not hear that at all, though we could see Ruslan getting an almost demonic grin on his face while playing.  I have no clue whether that jam went out over the air.

Josh did his internet interview immediately after 9 and we were able to see that fairly clearly as it was at the second desk, which faces the window, while the first one faces perpendicularly to the window.

The setup was sort of like this:

We waited for a while before Josh came out.  We saw the other musicians come out the regular stage door, while Josh was expected out of a larger door.

Josh took out his contacts before he came out.  

Darren had those of who were left by then, probably only about 10 of us, marshaled behind a barricade with strict instructions not to hug or kiss Josh and not to do posed pictures with him.  

I was right next to the door when he came out.  He had some time to talk.  I tried to say something to him, but he looked me in the eyes and I was struck dumb.   He looks so great in person!

He signed my fan edition album.

He expressed gratitude for us being there to support him.  I kind of think he hoped there would be more people.  

There was one lady there amongst us who he apparently knew, because he gave her a hug.  I don't know who she was at all.

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Addendum

This is me on GMA, thanks to JGCornerPub -- right behind Tariqh's guitar.