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I was lucky enough to get to go to the taping in NYC of the CBS Early Show. We won tickets through the online contest from WALK Radio that Gail posted information about online. The trip was an adventure (aren't all Michael trips?) and was fun! The instructions given to us by the radio station told us to report to the CBS News building on W. 57th Street no later than 11:30 that Monday morning. Of course, as for all Michael events, Bob and I went earlier than that and it was a good thing. Turns out that CBS had planned an outdoor mini-concert of 3 songs that was to be performed outdoors at 12:00 p.m.. There were posters around the building for it, so I guess there had been some publicity for it in the NYC area. Unfortunately it was raining in NYC that morning and when we got there, we were told that not only was it NOT being held at that building but that it had also been cancelled due to the rain! OH NO!! There were about a half-dozen other fans and contest winners also there who were not happy to hear that news! The poor beleaguered security guy there finally got someone on the phone for me to speak to who told us to go to a CBS building on 5th Ave because that's where the event had been planned and they were going to tape it indoors for a small audience. We all ran out and grabbed cabs for the new address and arrived to find a small crowd of fans waiting in the plaza in front of the building for whatever event might occur. Bob found someone with a clipboard who had the Jive guest list, so they found my name and we were ushered inside. (They had my name down as "Ian" but that was ok with me! LOL!) We were led through a maze of hallways and cubicle offices and finally arrived at a fair-sized meeting room packed to the gills with at least 50 other radio station contest winners. There were bagels and muffins and coffee there for everyone and a wall of 4 monitors with CBS and other stations playing on them. We were all told that the studio was VERY small and there may not be room to get us into it. People weren't real happy to hear that news! We spent a long time chatting with the other fans there and waiting for more information. Finally a man came in and turned all the monitors on to the studio where they were setting up for the taping. After a bunch of sound checks and a long wait, taped music of OAWLY began playing, and eventually the band guys came out. Chris and Schuyler and the keyboard guy who was on last fall's tour (I think his name is Tom) were there as well as a drummer and two girl background singers who I didn't recognize. Finally Michael came out and he did OAWLY. He sounded (and looked) great but nobody told us if this was a rehearsal or the actual performance!! Some of us took pictures of the monitors, because, after all, this might be all we got to see of Michael! LOL! After that he did a great rendition of WAMLAW! As those of you who saw the show know, Michael was wearing a black shirt, half-unbuttoned as usual, and not tucked in, and black leather pants. He also was wearing on his left wrist a heavy-looking id-type bracelet which I had also seen in pictures from his radio station visits this year. While we were spending all this time waiting, Jane Clayson came through and spoke with the fans. She asked where we were all from, and whether we liked his hair short or long (the vast majority said short). L She seemed very personable and very pretty! Finally sometime after 1:00 they told us they would take us to the studio in groups of 10, but again there may not be room for us all as the studio was very small! We all hoped we wouldn't be left out after all the waiting! I believe they finally did manage to squeeze all the folks there into the studio but it was a major crush! They had to move all the furniture off the interview set to fit us all there, as the other side of the studio had been filled with fans already. The director told everyone there must be absolutely NO talking during the taping and NO pictures! LOTS of groans from the crowd with that!! He said he'd check with Michael and see if they could work something out. They did, and he told us we could take pictures after they taped the second song. Jane chatted again with the fans while waiting to tape the introduction. There was a really big guy standing next to me. Jane said to him "Did you see Michael's bodyguard? He's about 5 times as big as you!" After a bit, our group was moved just out of camera range on the interview set, and she taped the introduction, and then Michael began singing OAWLY. The band played softly and you could hear the taped music in the background. The taped music was much, much louder when we watched the tape of the show later than it was in the studio. Michael's voice was much more predominant in the studio than it was on the show tape where it sounded very much mixed to the back! L Michael's voice cracked a bit during OAWLY and I thought maybe he would request a retake but he continued on. After he finished, Jane came onstage and did her interview. I thought she actually seemed a bit nervous interviewing him! (Who wouldn't be!) One thing he mentioned was a movie he is working on where he plays a musician character who is "bad". His comments made the crowd go "awwww". That part of the interview seems to have been cut from the show tape. Can't remember if any other questions were cut either. Then they did the commercial break and he taped WAMLAW. He totally blew the words to the first two lines of the second verse and made up some stuff to fit there! Poor Michael! There was no TelePromTer for him that day! LOL! He really rolled his eyes and smiled to himself when he flubbed the words but you couldn't see that very well on the tape, but it was funny! Again, I thought for sure he'd want to redo it, but he didn't say anything! After the song finished, the director made us clap for a real long time while they taped audience shots and they made us redo that "awwwww", (which we did badly and fortunately they didn't use! LOL!) Then, finally they said we could take pictures from where we were. Michael stood there for a few moments for us and said a few words to some of the fans and crew, and then after what seemed like less than a minute he waved and quickly made his way out of the studio. And so it was over! It was short but oh so sweet! Another great Michael adventure! Thanks again to Jive and Radio station WALK on Long Island for the tickets, and to Gail for posting the contest info! Cheers, Jan |
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